Thank you for the comments and suggestions and questions. I’ll try and pick up your final point about the drugs that you described as being effective but eye-wateringly expensive. Well, those drugs that are eye-wateringly expensive are drugs that are unlikely to be approved by NICE or the AWMSG. That’s why we have a recommended process: the benefit has to be in accordance with the cost as well, because part of the challenge why the cancer drugs fund was a failure and has been reformed—in fact, junked and remade completely and gone through a NICE process—is they recognise they are providing access to drugs at a price where they had no control over them at all, so that’s why it massively overspent, but also access to drugs where, on a number of occasions, you could not prove that they were effective. You don’t need to take my word for it: look at the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons; ask Dr Sarah Wollaston what she thinks of the previous cancer drugs fund. So, actually, that’s why the UK Government has ditched the previous cancer drugs fund, which was politically effective but a poor use of public money, and they’ve gone down a process where they’re actually now having a proper appraisal through NICE. What we’re saying through this fund is that we’ll make sure that people in Wales are not treated any less favourably. So, where those drugs go through and they get the interim appraisal from NICE, those are now available in Wales.

I’ve already determined on the previous indication that had come through, the previous medications. They are available in Wales too. Part of the reason why we’re talking about effective medication is that it goes through that authoritative process to understand that it is really effective. Those medications, they will be available on a more consistent basis, on a more rapid basis, because we recognise that there was a challenge previously in health boards’ ability to plan for introducing new medications, not having that grown-up relationship and conversation with the aim of what was coming on board, and different health boards had different abilities to manage significant costs into the drugs budget. That’s why we saw inconsistency across the piece in different parts of Wales for approved medications. This new fund will ensure that does not happen in the future and we’ll have more rapid access. In terms of NICE, because we’re making this at an earlier point in time and not waiting for the appeal period, that’s why it’ll be certain that we will have recommended medications available at an earlier point in time in Wales than in England. It is a real benefit and is genuinely groundbreaking, in accordance with our manifesto pledge.

I want to turn back to the point that you’re making about the industry and the support and service reconfiguration that may be necessary. I made comments and reference to this in my statement and in my letter as well. There is something here about our developing a more grown-up and mature relationship with the pharmaceutical industry here in Wales, because, if they want their medications to be available rapidly within the system, they have to go through a proper appraisal process, they need to be upfront about what is coming on board and to have some trust in those conversations with the service and in the whole appraisal process. That includes how that medication is delivered, and we’ve seen this on a number of fronts, where, actually, the industry is more open to talking about what you would need to do to be able to deliver a new medication effectively and what that means for the health board—not just the money, but the support around it as well. That is what the fund is intended to help deliver. So, I’m genuinely positive about what we’re doing in delivering on a manifesto pledge, delivering on a key commitment in the programme for government, and I think it will be proven to make a real difference to the NHS, but, much more importantly, a real difference to the people of Wales we are here to serve.