8. Statement by the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd: Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) — Progress of the Wales Five-year Animal and Environment Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:43 pm on 28 February 2023.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 5:43, 28 February 2023

Thank you very much. It is new money. As I say, more details will be worked up, and it's from that programme. 

You ask about the assessment in relation to our sewage. That wouldn't be a piece of work that, obviously, my department would do, but Public Health Wales, I know, is doing some extensive work to address AMR in Wales. I mentioned that we're applying 'one health', because it's very important that we look at it within the health of people and also the health of our animals. Officials do work very closely with public health colleagues, and public health officials actually make up part of our animal environment AMR delivery group, because I think that it is really important that they don't work in silos, and they do work collaboratively together. 

I think you made a very important point about Arwain DGC, because, for me, there's various strands of that. For instance, one of the strands is they raise awareness of the importance of responsible antibiotic usage and encourage best practice, and that includes responsible disposal, so I suppose that goes to a bit of your first point as well. There's a strand that focuses on capturing usage data. What I would really like to have—. Sam Kurtz referred to over a 50 per cent reduction in the use of antibiotics since 2014—that's across the UK. I can't find out what that proportion is in Wales at the current time, so there is a strand, as I say, of the project that does focus on catching that, because I think it would be really good that we have that specific information for Wales on that subject in the very near future.

I think it is really important to say that, of course, sometimes, antibiotics are the only treatment, and that's why we have to protect—. And I think you did make a really important point there that we know that those antibiotics are being used in absolutely the right way.