Deputy Presiding Officer, the petition we are discussing today is titled 'Provide a clinical pathway, medical care, and specialists for people with Tourette's syndrome in Wales'. This petition has received 10,393 signatures. It states that Tourette’s affects one in 100 children, that it is not a rare condition and that, in Wales, there is one specialist, who doesn't see children. The petition calls for

'a proper, clear, clinical pathway and access to specialist provision and medical care for people with Tourette’s syndrome in Wales.'

As I stand here today, Deputy Presiding Officer, we are 10 days into Tourette's Awareness Month, an attempt to raise awareness of Tourette's syndrome and the difficulties it can cause for one in 100 children and adults. I would at this point like to thank the Business Committee for scheduling this debate so promptly, so that we can contribute to the awareness raising.

Deputy Presiding Officer, the petition highlights the difficulties sufferers can face in Wales. Low levels of awareness mean it can be hard to get diagnosed, a lack of specialist care means it can be hard to get fast access to the support that can make life a little bit easier, and there can be enormous inconsistencies in the treatments, based on in which part you live in Wales. We can do better, and we must do better.

Now, of course, I do welcome the action taken by campaigners to raise awareness, including those celebrities like Billy Eilish and our very own Hefin David, who just recently brought his family's experience with autism into the Chamber, and the link that has there too. But, just like Billy Eilish and Hefin David, the petitioner, Helen Reeves-Graham, what they really want to see is not just raising awareness, they want to see real change, Deputy Presiding Officer—change in their communities and real change in their lives and the lives of the people they love. If I may use Helen's own words, and I quote:

'Ideally we would love to see a specialist Tourettes clinic within Wales that would offer a complete care package from therapy, access to medications, help with sleep, behaviour difficulties, mobility difficulties, managing pain and help with other co morbidities. Help and support needs to be available in ALL parts of Wales. The people that would be providing these services need to be fully trained. Access to a specialist in WALES is absolutely needed.'

And I know the Deputy Minister is committed to improving assessment and support services for all neurodevelopmental conditions, including Tourette's syndrome, and that she has met the petitioner and others to hear directly from patients and their families about the difficulties they face.

Listening to those with lived experience is crucial if we are to truly understand the needs and the type of support they require. A constituent has recently contacted my office and shared her family's distress due to the lack of support services. She described her eight-year-old son and how Tourette's impacts his life. She says that her son doesn't swear, but his condition is far more challenging and, in her words, Presiding Officer, and I quote:

'He suffers with extreme anxiety and has intrusive thoughts. He had talked about how he wants to die. He tells me it's his tics saying this in his head and he feels that he wants to get a Knife to stab himself.'

At the time, her son was seven, and the school immediately referred to child and adolescent mental health services, but they were told there would be a very long wait. Presiding Officer, her son suffers with violent tics in his head, face and jaw. His eyes burn, he bangs his head, he has poor motor skills, he can just about write, he has very poor control over his bowels and experiences a great deal of pain in his body from sudden involuntary movements, amongst a range of other challenges. And despite all of his suffering, the family have been unable to access specialist services, apart from the constant support of the school special educational needs co-ordinator. She describes a very bleak picture of how our health system is failing her son and fears for his future. She calls for all professionals to be better educated about this crippling condition. She also calls for suitable help, support and a clear medical pathway, from the GP upwards. This is what her son and others with Tourette’s deserve—the right to be understood, to be respected and to receive the care and support they so desperately need.

Presiding Officer, the results of the demand and capacity review of all-age neurodevelopmental services, which was due to report at the end of March, will, of course, inform the approach taken by the Welsh Government in the coming years and months. And I would be grateful, in responding to this debate, if the Minister can share some of her thoughts.

Presiding Officer, I do look forward to hearing from other Members this afternoon and, of course, hearing from the Deputy Minister. Diolch yn fawr.