A Preventative Approach to Ill Health

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:16 pm on 13 March 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 2:16, 13 March 2018

I don't think we can use all new money that way because, of course, there are pressures elsewhere in the NHS. Sensibly, of course, I don't disagree with what he's saying. Prevention, as they say, is better than cure, but we do also have to deal with the pressures that are put on the NHS, particularly pressures in acute services, and look to fund them. That said, £88 million has been allocated in the last financial year to Public Health Wales to provide—this financial year, I beg your pardon—a range of measures aimed at preventing ill health. That means smoking cessation—we know that smoking is a significant factor in ill health, particularly as people get older, and quite often where people stop smoking the effects are still there; it depends how long they've been smoking and on them as individuals. Screening—we've already mentioned screening in the Chamber, and how important screening is to prevent and detect the early stages of serious illnesses. Vaccination, childhood immunisation—that's hugely important. And also active travel—being able to give people the easiest opportunities to be able to walk, to be able to cycle. It's good to see authorities—if I can put in a plug for Bridgend here—investing in cycle routes, to make sure that people are able to cycle from the town centre in Bridgend all the way up the Ogmore valley and the Garw valley on the cycle routes that exist, without ever having to go on a busy road. And being able to encourage people to be active and to maintain that habit of being active is hugely important in terms of prevention. And I know that with him, I'm preaching to the converted.