3. Will the Minister outline the steps being taken to improve access to diagnostics in the Swansea Bay University Health Board area? OQ59201

We have a diagnostic target that no-one should wait over eight weeks. The health board is finding it particularly challenging to meet this in Swansea, where 70 per cent of those waiting over eight weeks are waiting for a diagnostic endoscopy. The health board is receiving support from the delivery unit and working with Hywel Dda on a regional diagnostic hub.

Thank you, Minister. The planned diagnostics and treatment centre in Cwm Taf will be a huge asset to those living in the east of my region, but those living in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot will see no such benefit. However, one positive development in Swansea has been the introduction of pioneering blood tests to replace colonoscopies for those recovering from bowel cancer. There are around 4,000 patients in Swansea Bay who have been waiting years for a follow-up colonoscopy after they had bowel cancer or polyps removed. These blood tests will reduce the demand on colonoscopy services across the health board. Minister, this is a great service, but it will only be provided to around 200 patients, thanks to funding from the Moondance Cancer Initiative. Does the Welsh Government have any plans to expand the roll-out of these pioneering new tests?

Thanks very much. I think it is important that we embrace new innovations where there's a clinical indication that they are helpful. Obviously, we need to balance that off against our ability to pay for them. But in this space, we have actually spent a lot of money on diagnostics—£51 million to replace diagnostic equipment, £25 million to replace imaging equipment and £25 million for four new PET scanners. We will be publishing a new national diagnostic plan in April. I recently had a meeting with the people who'd developed the plan, not just in Wales. I wanted to be very clear what is happening elsewhere, and so I spoke to UK experts as well about, 'How does this compare to yours? Where do we need to go? Are we far behind? Are we ahead?' So, there are some very detailed conversations going on there. Obviously, you've heard the proposals to build a new diagnostic centre in Cwm Taf. As I mentioned in response to your question, we will be seeing some support and working to see if we can develop a regional diagnostic centre between Swansea and Hywel Dda.