9. Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Early Cancer Diagnosis

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:30 pm on 11 March 2020.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 4:30, 11 March 2020

Thanks for giving way. You mentioned that some cancers are harder to diagnose than others and it's reminded me of a constituent's case that Angela Burns, our health spokesperson, has been involved in with me as well. The constituent that we saw, his wife sadly died of ovarian cancer; I don't think it was diagnosed until stage 4. Certain cancers like ovarian cancer are incredibly difficult to diagnose because they masquerade as other conditions quite early on, whatever those might be. So, would you say that—I'm delighted that you're bringing this debate forward—part of this means that the Welsh Government does need to look at some of those cancers that are harder to diagnose and maybe look at some of the evidence out there, particularly algorithms, for instance, which my constituent was looking at with an expert in Cardiff University, which can make that diagnosis process a lot easier so that you can get to these cancers a lot earlier?