6. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on 'Train. Work. Live.' Campaign

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:53 pm on 2 April 2019.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 4:53, 2 April 2019

Thank you for the comments and the questions. I recognised some time ago that endometriosis was a common condition that is not commonly talked about or recognised. As you say, approximately one in 10 women, we understand, will be affected by it during their lifetime. So, it's not an uncommon condition, and there's a challenge about where we do need speciality and where there's a role for the general service on a condition that is this common. That was one of the reasons why I decided to create the women's health group to look at a couple of particular issues where most of the attention and people affected are women. So, the first two issues that that group's been considering are mesh and tape for vaginal prolapse and endometriosis—those being the first two issues. Now, I take the view that, if conditions that were that common had affected men, they probably wouldn't have waited this long to have been highlighted and had a plan of action. So, I've created the group to bring together appropriate speciality and focus on those issues, and I've just directed that group to also consider the report from the faecal incontinence group—the report of Julie Cornish has been received, and I've directed the women's health group to look at that as well.

It's then about making sure that the learning from each of those areas, including endometriosis, actually leads to improvement across the service, because these are not uncommon conditions, so I expect the service to deal with them—so, a limited number of conditions, to see improvement. But I expect there'll be more areas of activity as we move forward and as I hope we can resolve what looks like a proper improvement plan in each of the three areas that the group is currently considering.