One of the pieces of advice my highly esteemed predecessor as Assembly Member for Caerphilly, Jeff Cuthbert, gave me was to always take the opportunity in debate to raise the issues and concerns of your constituents, and therefore this is a very timely opportunity to do that. My knowledge of this dreadful disease came about as a result of meeting a constituent, Glyn Davies, who’s volunteered on behalf of Arthritis Care for 15 years. He suffers from arthritis himself and he’s run a range of courses for people of all ages who have been affected by arthritis, on activities such as exercise, employment, finance, welfare, and pain management. He’s talked to me about the importance of transition from paediatric to adult services, and it’s something that has been touched upon—I think Rhun touched upon that in some of the contributions he made. The role of volunteers, therefore, is very, very important, but I’m mindful that the motion concentrates on the issue of arthritis in children, which is something that is less commonly understood, I think—certainly in the dialogue I’ve had with other constituents.

Earlier today, my office was contacted by my constituent Alison Haines, of Caerphilly. Alison’s son has JIA, and is prone to flare-ups. At present, the availability of part-time support services means that access to care can take two to three days. Alison feels that her son’s flare-ups will be brought under better control if full access to treatment and advice was more widely available on a regular basis. What she told me was her son currently receives treatment from two different sites, the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff, and the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport. The problem is that his appointments are on separate days, meaning his education suffers due to more time off school. If a range of paediatric rheumatology services could be provided in one dedicated place, then this would reduce the impact on his school attendance, and also reduce the strain put upon the whole family. Clearly, the establishment of a tertiary, multidisciplinary paediatric rheumatology service in south Wales would be, as Julie Morgan said, of significant benefit to people just like Alison’s son, helping him manage his condition more effectively and providing a great deal of support for his family.

I signed up as a supporter to the motion. I wanted to understand fully the implications of points 4 and 5, awaiting the WHSSC review and the implications that has, then, for the decision on paediatric services. I think I was struck a little bit by Rhun ap Iorwerth’s contribution that said, ‘Well, we need a strategy. We need to think strategically about it. We need to base this on evidence’, and the evidence should therefore be provided by that WHSSC review. And, therefore, in conclusion, I would be grateful if the Cabinet Secretary would agree to give that concept of a multidisciplinary rheumatology paediatric service consideration, pending the outcome of that WHSSC review.