On Sunday, millions of people across the country joined forces to mark this year's World Cancer Day. Over 19,000 people in Wales are diagnosed with cancer each year, so I would like to take the opportunity today to mark World Cancer Day in the Chamber, to show that cancer remains high on the political agenda.

Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research. Their work to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives. Today, I’m wearing my Cancer Research UK unity band to show my support for World Cancer Day.

As Rhun has just mentioned, here in the Plaid Cymru group, this is very close to us, and our thoughts are always with our colleague, Steffan Lewis, and we wish him the best.

Early diagnosis is critical to improving patient outcomes. With incidence of cancer increasing in Wales, the high and growing demand for cancer tests means it’s essential to develop diagnostic capacity in certain parts of the NHS, particularly endoscopy, imaging and pathology. This will help to improve cancer survival in Wales and ensure cancers can be diagnosed quicker.

Given that each of those 19,000 people each year require a cancer test, it is imperative that we have the capacity in our diagnostic services to ensure that more cancers in Wales are diagnosed early.