7. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on the decarbonisation programme for health and social care

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:02 pm on 2 November 2021.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 6:02, 2 November 2021

(Translated)

Thank you for the statement, Minister. The climate emergency, as we heard from the Minister, is a health emergency too, of course. Doctors are seeing the impact of air pollution. Extreme weather can be a threat to health and a threat to life. These problems will get worse unless there is action, and all our eyes are on COP26 in the hope of seeing signs that that is about to happen. The truth of the matter is that the health and care service itself is a heavy emitter and a contributor to other problems leading to climate change, and we need to address that.

It's a shame that we didn't have an opportunity to discuss in full the delivery programme that was published a day or so before the last Senedd was dissolved. But it's good that we've had this update now, and it's very appropriate that that does happen during COP26. It's encouraging to hear many of the elements of what the Minister had to say today—that things are starting to move in the right direction, that the NHS is showing signs of becoming more sustainable, but there is such a long way to go, from the use of anaesthetic gases, as we heard the Minister refer to, to the overuse of plastics in pharmaceuticals. Asthma pumps have been a major problem, for example, and the way the health estate has been designed and planned. We know that there has been criticism in terms of public transport links to the Grange hospital, the newest general hospital in Wales. I was reading a report from around a year ago in the Caerphilly Observer, which said,