Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 8 January 2020.

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Photo of Siân Gwenllian Siân Gwenllian Plaid Cymru 2:27, 8 January 2020

(Translated)

Thank you, Llywydd. During a question to the First Minister yesterday, I raised the case of an elderly Welsh-speaking man from Anglesey who's living with dementia. The fact that a health board that is supposed to be acting in accordance with the language standards is even considering providing care for this individual in England, where, of course, there would be no Welsh language service available, is unambiguous proof that the standards placed on the health board are deficient.

Now, under your own standards as they stand, the situation facing this gentleman from Anglesey is entirely legal and there is no legal safeguard for patients. Surely it should be an expectation on a health board to provide a service for vulnerable patients, such as dementia patients, in their first language, and it shouldn't fall to families, politicians and pressure groups to safeguard the human right of Welsh speakers to a service through the medium of their own language. Do you agree with the suggestion of the First Minister yesterday that there are fundamental deficiencies in the health standards and that they must be revisited as a matter of urgency?