Health Outcomes in Powys

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 13 July 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:34, 13 July 2021

I thank Joyce Watson for that, Llywydd, and thank her for drawing attention to the Bro Ddyfi hospital in Machynlleth. There is a good example of a proposal brought forward by the Powys health board, which completed the full business case process and allowed Welsh Ministers to approve the £15 million that will be invested there in March prior to the election.

The general point that Joyce Watson makes, Llywydd, is surely the right one—that health inequalities are just one example of the wider inequalities that we see in our society. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 commits this Senedd to work for a more equal Wales. And a more equal Wales, where the gap between the top and the bottom was narrower than it is today, would have positive impacts for people in many aspects of their lives, and certainly would lead to better health outcomes. We know more equal societies around the world enjoy better health outcomes than more unequal societies. That is why the agenda of this Welsh Government—in its fair work agenda, in its work for a fairer Wales—is dedicated to exactly the sort of outcome that Joyce Watson has suggested.