Thank you for contacting me about support for children and young people living with cancer.
Childhood Cancer Awareness Month provides an important opportunity to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancers affecting children and young people. Greater awareness of symptoms, as well as faster referral of suspected childhood cancers are crucial to ensure that more children and young people can be diagnosed quicker.
As you state in your email, over 100 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer every year in Wales and yet, families are still left facing unnecessary barriers when trying to access the specialist care that their child requires. It is unfair that, even today, the availability of treatment and support is still not standardised across the country, creating a ‘postcode lottery’. Instead, dozens of families are left to travel over 500 miles a month to access suitable facilities, adding financial pressure to any already awful situation. This is extremely concerning for the children and families affected by this disease.
Having been a devolved matter in Wales since 1999, we must recognise the role that the Welsh Government has had in the poor management of the Welsh NHS, and reflect on how their real-terms cut to the health budget on a number of occasions has resulted in dire consequences for cancer patients in Wales.
It is completely inexcusable that in their lifetime, 1-in-2 people will be diagnosed with cancer, yet in Wales, just 53.4% of patients are being seen within the 62-day maximum wait target.
I will raise this issue directly with Russell George MS, the Shadow Minister for Health, to consider how we can improve the experiences of children and young people with cancer in Wales, and how we can expand the financial support on offer for their families.
Again, thank you for contacting me about this important issue.