I met Natural Resources Wales to discuss fisheries protection and enforcement concerns raised with me by members of the angling community in North Wales.
Following the Welsh Government’s 'Services Fit for the Future' White Paper, I met North Wales Community Health Council to discuss the White Paper’s proposed abolition of Community Health Councils (CHCs) and their replacement with a national Wales body.
Warning of the dangers of repeating the English experience of abolishing CHCs a decade ago, the Consultation Institute has stated “Now Wales is thinking of doing the same. In England, their demise led to a succession of failed initiatives”.
As the Francis Report on serious failings in care at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust before 2009 stated, “It is now quite clear that what replaced them (in England) failed to produce an improved voice for patients and the public, but achieved the opposite”.
We must not allow the Welsh Government to remove the independence and patient voice delivered by our CHCs.
I visited Raytheon UK in Broughton, which will develop next-generation airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance to combat worldwide threats. Employment here is set to rise by 200 in 3 years, but keeping their proven Sentinel special mission aircraft in operation with the RAF is key to this.
As one of the Hep C Trust’s Welsh Hepatitis C Assembly Champions, I visited Wrexham Maelor Hospital to meet staff including the Hepatology Clinical Nurse Specialist and Consultant Gastroenterologist, and a patient.
Although up to 14,000 people in Wales are estimated to be chronically infected with Hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus that can cause fatal liver damage and cancer if left untreated, new treatments mean that this can be eliminated as a serious public health concern in Wales by 2030.
Other engagements included a catch-up meeting with both the Chief Executive and Chair of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, and a meeting to discuss the threats and opportunities applying to Welsh Lamb exports.
It is concerning that figures for UK Labour’s spending plans from the Institute of Fiscal Studies would result in around £4,000 of increased debt for every person in Wales, and increased debt interest payments which, in a Welsh context, equate to funding 3,250 nurses, 2,800 teachers and 2,650 police officers across Wales.
If you need my help, please email mark.isherwood@assembIly.wales or ring 0300 200 7217.