COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions in Rhondda Cynon Taf

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:19 pm on 30 September 2020.

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Photo of David Melding David Melding Conservative 3:19, 30 September 2020

Minister, it's obviously a very serious event in the Royal Glamorgan. This is September—when we face the pressures of winter in late November, December and January, we could be under more severe pressure yet. Now, I know, throughout Wales, part of the management of the COVID risk has been moving some operations to other facilities—cancer operations, for instance, to the Vale Hospital and in Cardiff to Spire. And cancer treatment is going on, as I understand it—emergency treatment will continue at the Royal Glamorgan, but all other elective care has now stopped. Cancer patients in particular have to be protected from infection—you can have a very bad outcome if they've been operated on and are under immunosuppressant drugs. So, can you assure us that zoning hospitals, or moving certain care to specific sites, is going on and will be a way of ensuring that higher levels of cancer care can be delivered than otherwise when we face these sorts of emergencies?