Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 10 December 2019.
Thank you, First Minister. Following our very well-supported cross-party debate on this, I was contacted last week by a lady who'd just had a diagnosis last week of pancreatic cancer, but had been told she would have to wait two months for surgery. She was upset and shocked by that. Her husband was understandably very angry and I really felt for both of them, because we know that pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancers and really needs to be treated within 21 days. I'm very grateful for the update that you've just provided and that you are already taking action following the debate that we held here, but what assurances can you give that, in the interim, while we look at that rapid access issue, we also look at urgently commissioning operations across the border in England for patients who are well enough to be able to make that journey to have their operation in a timely way?