6. What action is the Welsh Government taking to improve NHS cancer waiting times? OQ58607

Innovation, additional investment and recruitment of specialist staff are amongst the actions being taken alongside clinical leaders to reduce cancer waiting times.

Thank you, First Minister. The latest data released on cancer cases showed that, in August, only 52.5 per cent reached the Government's 62-day target of starting treatment—the lowest number since records were collected. One of my constituents has been waiting over seven months for cancer treatment. In previous years, he had mouth cancer and had accessed Hereford hospital, where he was successfully treated within three months following referral for both mouth cancer and subsequent nose cancer. Upon moving to my constituency, he developed a small cancer on his ear, requiring a relatively small procedure. However, as a direct result of being stuck on the Welsh NHS waiting list, he is likely now to lose his hearing and his ear. What started as a small cancerous growth, which could have been removed with early intervention, has now grown into something absolutely horrendous for the individual. 

I thank the health Minister for her correspondence in relation to this, but, First Minister, whilst it's welcome news that Wales is rolling out rapid diagnosis centres, unfortunately, it's too late for my constituent. Do you agree that more action is needed to tackle lagging treatment in Wales to stop people going through such an ordeal, and what hope can the Government provide to people who are suffering like my constituent?

I thank Peter Fox for that question. I've been able to read his letter to the health Minister and I've seen her reply. I hope that it will provide some information that is useful for his constituent in what are clearly very distressing individual circumstances. 

The system works hard every month to deal with the increased volume of cases that come through the door. And it's a good thing that more cases come through the door, because we want to ensure that people are referred into the system as early as possible. August saw the highest number of patients treated in this financial year, and it saw the highest ever number of patients told that they did not have cancer—13,500 patients in Wales in August went through the system and were told that they didn't have that awful disease hanging over them. When you count up the people who were treated, and the people who were told they didn't need treatment, that comes to over 14,500 people, which are the highest numbers we've ever managed. And yet 16,000 people were referred into the system in the same month. As I say, Llywydd, that is good news, because that means we are seeing more people, and earlier, and hopefully more of those people will find out that they don't have to face a cancer diagnosis.

But you will see, and the Member for Monmouth will see, that even if you are managing record numbers of people coming through the system, if you've got record numbers of people coming into the system, the system is still flat out. That's why we do have the new rapid diagnostic centres, that's why we have the new one-stop clinics, that's why we are developing the straight-to-test diagnostics system. All of these are efforts being made by clinicians to find a way of both responding to the new referrals and dealing with people who have been in the system too long already. 

Good afternoon, First Minister. As well as paying tribute to the health workers and those in our health professions who deal with cancer, there is also a range of charities who meet the needs of everybody suffering from cancer, and that includes the families of those suffering from cancer. Many of those have mental health issues, and people want to talk, not just the cancer sufferer, but those within the family and extended family. It's a very difficult time, and I thank my colleague Peter Fox for raising the issue and talking about that very sad situation. I do hope that the family of that person, as well as that sufferer, get the support that they need. 

As well as the bigger charities like Macmillan and the Marie Curie trust, we also have, in Mid and West Wales, the wonderful Bracken Trust, based in Llandrindod Wells, which meets the needs of families and their carers. They have a drop-in service, a wig exchange service, and they just offer that support for families affected. I wonder if I could ask you, First Minister, what support can the Welsh Government give to those wonderful charities operating in the field with both the sufferer and the wider family? Thank you. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I thank Jane Dodds; those are all very important points. She's absolutely right—it isn't just the individual, it's the family of the individual that gets caught up in a cancer diagnosis. And the physical impact of a cancer diagnosis is only one of the difficulties that families face. There is fantastic work done by third sector organisations in Wales, simply on trying to make sure that people get the financial help that they need. To be ill with cancer often means that people aren't able to earn in a way that they would have previously, and the benefits system is not sympathetic, in the way that it ought to be, to people who face those difficulties. So, there are practical issues, there are the wider health issues, including mental health impacts, of a diagnosis of that sort. The very many small and local organisations that exist throughout Wales are a sign of the strength of Welsh civic society—that people give their time, raise those moneys, provide those services. And there's the work that the Welsh Government does with the third sector partnership council, a part of our landscape since the very foundation of devolution. We recognise and work with that wider group of people in our society, who want to make sure that the core public services that are provided can be supported and augmented, particularly for people whose needs are greatest.