Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Many thanks for allowing me to reply to this opposition debate around women's health, which I know most people in the Chamber are aware is an issue that I'm passionate about addressing, and it's great to see that there is absolute consensus on the issue, if not on the motion itself.

Now, women, as we know, make up just over half of our population and account for 47 per cent of the workforce. But that evidence is mounting that women don't always receive the health support needed to deliver the improved outcomes we expect. Gender inequalities in terms of health remain very significant. For example, with heart diseases, as we've heard, women are less likely to be aware of their risks and symptoms, less likely to be diagnosed quickly, less likely to be given optimal treatment, and less likely to access rehabilitation. I'm really grateful to the British Heart Foundation for drawing my attention to this in a briefing, which led me to commission a quality statement on women very shortly after I was appointed last year.

Women, we know, are under-represented in clinical trials, and these inequalities come at a huge cost. Research suggests that the deaths of at least 8,000 women could have been prevented through equitable cardiac treatment over a 10-year period in England and Wales. 

People have mentioned different responses of women, for example to autism, to mental health. But, crucially, I think also something that is not talked about is, in an ageing population, the huge impact of incontinence on older women—disproportionately, once again, affecting women rather than men. There is a particular approach taken in 'A Healthier Wales', and that's our long-term plan for health and social services, and the whole ethos of the programme is for the services to be equitable, designed around the individual and around groups of people, based on their unique needs and what matters to them.

But, when it comes to women's health, all too often in the NHS women's healthcare is confined to reproductive health issues. Now, I want a health service in Wales that supports and nurtures women's wider health and well-being, and I've instructed officials to take this broader approach when it comes to developing that quality statement.