5. 3. Statement: The Heart Conditions Delivery Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:33 pm on 7 February 2017.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 3:33, 7 February 2017

We are what we eat and, sadly, far too many people are only eating food that’s absolutely drenched in fat, sugar and salt. And that, combined with poor exercise, is obviously a recipe for heart disease. You rightly point out in your statement that a lot of the target groups are those who are reluctant to go to the GP. I was pondering on that, and I want to applaud the work of people like Food Cardiff, who are reaching out to people to try and get them to change their diets, particularly through schools. But men, I think, are particularly at risk of heart disease and are less likely to be attending school and to hear what is on offer there. I was a little bit disappointed not to see this reaching out to those who don’t go to the GP very often, or not until it’s absolutely acute, and that that is not in the list of priorities that you outlined at the end of your statement. So, I wonder if you could say a little bit more about how we’re going to reach these people who are being killed early and are being sent to an early grave. They are being sent to an early grave by the food processors, which is, of course, why I want to see a tax on sugar, salt and fat, to enable us to care for these people when they inevitably end up in the acute sector.