2. Will the Minister provide an update on the women's health plan and its relevance to women and girls in Mid and West Wales? OQ58882

The NHS Wales collaborative has led the development of a 10-year women's health plan, and this will form the service's response to the requirement set out in the women and girls health quality statement. The plan will deliver improvements to health provision for women across all regions of Wales.

Diolch yn fawr iawn. Minister, you may recall me sharing my constituent Emily's story some months ago during Plaid Cymru's opposition debate on women's health. Tragically, she was forced to endure almost a 10-year wait for a diagnosis of endometriosis, a condition that affects one in 10 women across Wales. Now 24, Emily lives with stage 4 endometriosis, adenomyosis and other symptoms that remain to be diagnosed. She can no longer work, nor drive, and lives with chronic pain every single day. Despite her best efforts to work with clinicians and the health board to improve the care she receives, she's still waiting for a referral for specialised care and treatment. She tells me she has no option now but to pay for private healthcare. We know that this is just one story of many. 

Minister, you said that the first stage—and we've heard you confirm this—of the update to the women's health plan would be published in the autumn, and now we are in the final week before the Christmas recess. So, I urge you to say when exactly this plan will be published, and it should be published immediately to avoid the kinds of experiences that individuals such as Emily have faced over the past few years.

Thank you very much. I'm very sorry to hear Emily's story; she is one of many women suffering from endometriosis. We have recognised that we need to do far more in this area, and that's why we do have endometriosis nurses in all health boards across Wales. So, improvements are being made, but we also recognise that we need more doctors who can undertake the interventions necessary for many women.

In terms of the announcement, what we have done now—. This will be an announcement made by the NHS, rather than by Government, but I have seen it. I've said that I am happy with the direction of travel and I very much hope that that will be published and made available during the next week. What's contained within that is the results of a consultation that we carried out with women across Wales to ask them what they think is needed in such a plan. And what we'll have is that response, what the 4,000 respondents think should be included in the plan, and then that will be taken forward and hopefully we'll have a further step forward in the summer. Because this will be a 10-year plan, and I'm very eager to ensure that we don't just look at issues related to gynaecology and those aspects of women's health, but I think it's also important that we look at things like asthma, anxiety and migraines, which impact women in a different way. So, there's a lot of work still to be done, but what was important was to ensure that it was women who felt that they could influence the shape and content of the programme.

Minister, as you're well aware, we as Welsh Conservatives held a debate in this Chamber on gynaecological cancer that affects women. We had some clear calls in that debate that we feel could actually really help women right across who are suffering with this awful, awful disease. What I would like to know today from the Welsh Government is what are you doing to address gynaecological cancer here in Wales, and what actions have you taken, following on from that debate, to make sure that no more women in Wales have to suffer from this horrendous disease.

Thanks very much. I'm pleased to say that I have followed up on that debate, and one of the things that I've done is to hold a cancer summit meeting, where, obviously, we looked at the breakdown of where we need to make further progress in relation in particular to gynaecological cancer. We're putting pressure on health boards to make sure that they understand what are the optimum pathways, to make sure that they can learn from each other. One of the key purposes of these cancer summits is that they understand what is the optimal pathway, following the best clinical advice. So, there has been progress, I'm pleased to say. I think we've got a long way to go, if I'm honest. Some of that is about workforce, but obviously, we'll be making announcements soon about what we plan to do in the workforce space.