Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 14 March 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 1:46, 14 March 2018

There are a couple of points that I would mention. I recognise that, of course, the diagnostic workforce are crucial not just to cancer, but a range of other services, in making sure that people are appropriately diagnosed and put on the road to either the certainty that they don't have the potential condition, or indeed have the opportunity to start treatment at an appropriate point in time. So, there's no avoiding the diagnostic workforce and they're important to being able to achieve real and meaningful targets.

I would again just point out that if we had the English targets of 85 days and 62 days then we would almost certainly achieve that on a regular basis. I'm actually looking, as I've indicated in this place and in other places as well, to look again at the current targets we have on cancers and to look in particular at whether some waits are not revealed by our current waiting times target. If we are to move to a single cancer pathway, as I wish us to do, that will require further investment in the diagnostic workforce, not just for cancer, but to make sure that other services are not compromised by an additional focus on delivering a single cancer pathway, so these matters are in my mind and I expect to have more to say towards the end of this year.