Thank you for your series of questions and comments. To be fair, I didn’t expressly deal with the question that Angela Burns asked about other new technologies, which you finished on as well. Indeed, this announcement is about a new treatment fund for medicines. There are other processes and means to assess the effectiveness or otherwise of other interventions, whether they’re talking therapies or whether they’re other technological interventions in different parts of the service. For example, I previously talked about new microsurgery for lymphedema as a new innovation that is actually groundbreaking and leading here in Wales, as well. So, I’m disappointed to hear the Plaid Cymru spokesperson saying about Wales being slow on the uptake on a range of things. Actually, on a range of things, we’re at the forefront of them as well.

There’s a balance in what we should do and in talking about what the NHS in Wales is doing, but of course, we always want to understand what progress means, where progress can be made and how to actually have a whole-system approach to doing that. For example, in technology, there’s a range of different measures that we are taking to try and deliver a genuinely once-for-Wales approach on a range of these different areas. But that is a different matter outside the subject of today’s statement and announcement.

On the individual patient funding request, as you will be aware and as other health spokespeople and Members will be aware, I’m expecting to receive the report to be published at some point early in this year and I look forward to receiving it from the group that’s been set up, following conversations with people across parties. That will deal with those things that are not recommended through NICE or the AWMSG. That is that more difficult area where there are difficult choices to be made about the balance and individual benefits. So, I look forward to having the report with recommendations for us to consider and debate, and then, ultimately, the Government will have to decide on a way forward for the service. But that is a separate matter that will come in the coming weeks.

I recognise the point of the discussion you were having across the Chamber with the Conservatives about the fact that this a genuine all-condition approach. We agreed with what the King’s Fund said when they talked about the cancer drugs fund having difficult ethical questions and the inequity that arises in valuing some NHS patients’ lives more than other people, depending on the nature of their condition. We were never going to take that approach and we’re being consistent with a genuinely equitable all-condition approach in delivering the new treatment fund.

On the accountability for making sure that the money is used for a purpose, that’s why I’ve been clear that there’ll be new directions and that there’ll be monitoring for the use of that money. So, I’m clear that the money is there for a purpose, I expect it to be used for that purpose and health board leaders will be held to account if that’s proven not to be the case.

Again, on your point about the evidence for the frequency of the meeting of the AWMSG, if there is more evidence that it should meet more frequently, that is something we will consider. That’s not something that’s been brought to me at present, either by other individuals or by the group itself, but I’m always open-minded if there’s something that the evidence tells us we could or should do to improve the position here in Wales. I’m happy to confirm again that this is to help the first year of the introduction of these new medications. After that, our evidence tells us that health boards are much better at managing and delivering new medicines thereafter. So, it’s to make sure that, in the first year, there isn’t that inequity, either in the consistency or in the speed of access to genuinely life-changing new medications.