Health
Calls to declare health emergency in Wales narrowly rejected
THE WELSH PARLIAMENT narrowly rejected calls to declare a health emergency due to the “existential threat” facing the NHS.
With the vote deadlocked at 26-26, Elin Jones – the Senedd’s speaker or Llywydd – used her casting vote against the Plaid Cymru motion in line with convention.
Mabon ap Gwynfor, the shadow health minister, urged the Welsh Government to recognise an unfolding emergency and bring the NHS “back from the brink”.
The Plaid Cymru MS warned that without a drastic course correction, the health service faces a highly uncertain future.
He said: “We have brought forward this debate today with one clear purpose: to try to convince the government we need to recognise the existential threat facing the NHS, which is so valuable to us, by declaring a health emergency in Wales.”
Mr Gwynfor, who represents Dwyfor Meirionnydd, pointed out that waiting lists have hit record highs in July, August, September and October.

‘Limbo’
He told the chamber that there are 582,000 people waiting for treatment – almost a fifth of Wales’ population, who are “stuck in this ever-expanding limbo zone”.
Turning to cancer services, Mr Gwynfor said only around 54% of patients started treatment within the recommended 62 days against a target of 75% which has never been met.
He added that ambulances spent a combined total of 22,000 hours parked outside hospitals waiting to drop off patients in December alone.
Mr Gwynfor quoted Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health minister at Westminster, as saying: “You would have to be living on Mars not to see the NHS is in an emergency.”
He urged Welsh Labour to “come back to earth and open their eyes to what is happening here on their watch”.
Pointing out that the Senedd was the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency, he urged Welsh ministers to do the same with health.
‘Collapse’
Russell George, the Conservatives’ shadow minister, raised concerns about a GP crisis, saying the number of patients per GP has risen by a third in less than a decade.

Mr George accused the Welsh Government of failing to sufficiently recruit, train and retain NHS staff more broadly than GPs.
He moved the Conservatives’ amendments, which urged the Welsh Government to develop a workforce plan and set a target to eliminate two-year waits by September.
The Montgomeryshire MS said: “The staffing crisis is so acute that we do need to act now to prevent the collapse of our NHS.
“Those aren’t my words, those are the words straight from the British Medical Association.”
Mr George told MSs that 25,000 people are waiting more than two years for treatment in Wales but in England and Scotland such waits have been virtually eliminated.
‘Miracles’
Huw Irranca-Davies recognised the challenges but said it must be balanced against the miracles being performed daily by the health service.

The Labour backbencher praised the “amazing” treatment he has received from the NHS, saying he has not experienced long delays.
The Ogmore MS, whose wife works in A&E, said: “It isn’t because, as somebody will say ‘well, you’re an MS, your name goes up the list’ – it isn’t that.
“The NHS treats me like any other citizen. It’s seen me, it’s seen me promptly and it’s getting me through the system as fast as it possibly can, and I’m having the best of service.”
Jane Dodds, the Lib Dems’ leader in Wales, focused her contribution on rural communities, calling for a rural GP premium to help with recruitment and retention.

The Mid and West Wales MS warned that GPs are continuing to say they have had enough.
She raised a Royal College of GPs survey which found that one in four did not expect to be in their current role in five years’ time.
‘Crisis’
Eluned Morgan, Wales’ health minister, said: “I don’t accept there is a health emergency and I’m not really sure what we hope to achieve by declaring a health emergency.”

During the debate on February 7, she told the chamber that the Welsh Government has prioritised the NHS in the face of more than £1bn of real-terms cuts.
She said achieving performance targets has been difficult because demand has gone through the roof, with referrals increasing by 10% last year to 1.5 million.
Baroness Morgan pointed out that almost 300,000 people – about the population of Cardiff – are seen as out-patients every month by the Welsh NHS.
She said more than 2,500 people attend A&E and about 1,100 people call 999 every day.
The minister stressed: “I think the vast majority of these people would say that there is not a crisis. People fall over themselves to tell me how great their treatment has been….
“You’ve got to balance it. We’ve got to balance all of the criticism with the great work that is being done in the NHS.”
Health
‘Children spending more time in digital worlds than the real one’
CHILDREN are spending more time in digital worlds than the real one, the Senedd has heard, with excessive screen use shaping behaviour and health in ways society cannot ignore.
Labour’s John Griffiths expressed concerns about the impact of smartphones and online gaming on young people amid an “epidemic of screen use” in Wales.
Mr Griffiths titled the debate “Locked in, Bruh!” – “the state of playing a video game while oblivious to anything else” – on the suggestion of Tom, a teenager from Newport.
He raised research from the Centre for Social Justice, a thinktank, which estimates that up to 814,000 UK children aged three to five are already engaging with social media.
The Newport East Senedd Member told the chamber two-thirds of primary school pupils in Wales have their own smartphone by the age of 11.
Mr Griffiths said boys spend two hours more a day on online gaming while girls spend more time on social media and “reel scrolling” which has been linked to damaging self-esteem.
He told Senedd Members: “Boys are becoming more short-tempered and violent when exposed to violent video games and there is, rightly, much concern that children in more deprived families are particularly vulnerable.”
Mr Griffiths, who was first elected in 1999 and will stand down in 2026, said children aged five to 16 spend at least six hours a day looking at a screen. He added that for children, aged 11 to 14, that figure rises to nine hours a day.
He pointed to research showing more than 70% of young people in the UK do not undertake an hour of physical activity a day yet have at least six hours to spend looking at a screen.
He said: “Children are sat inside with a screen at the end of their nose and are not spending time outside enjoying their local communities or playing and interacting with friends.”
Mr Griffiths warned of increasing levels of obesity and rising numbers of young people reporting vision problems, with one in three children globally now short-sighted.
He told the Senedd: “As for the mental health and wider social impacts, anxiety and depression are increasingly linked to excessive screen use as is sleep disruption – with social media interfering with rest and emotional development.”
He raised a New Zealand study of more than 6,000 children that found a correlation between excessive screen time and below-average performance in literacy and numeracy. He warned children have increasingly shortened attention spans and an inability to concentrate.
Mr Griffiths shared the case of his constituent, Danielle, who said her son becomes more aggressive and snappier after a significant time gaming. Lucy, another constituent, explained how her children find the endless reels on social media addictive.
“Once they start scrolling, it’s hard to break that cycle,” the Senedd Member said. “And when she and her husband take the devices away, it often results in tantrums and tears.”
Mr Griffiths raised the example of countries such as Australia, France and Italy which have introduced strict age checks and bans on social media for under 16s.
He acknowledged such a policy would need to come from the UK Government because powers over internet services are not devolved. But he said Wales has the authority to introduce measures through education policy on, for example, smartphones in schools.
The Tories’ Sam Rowlands warned algorithms are having a “sickening” effect on teenagers who are eight times more likely to act on self-harm urges when exposed to such content. “TikTok users with eating disorders receive over 4,000% more toxic content,” he warned.
Responding to Wednesday’s (December 17) debate, Jane Hutt recognised how so-called doom scrolling can have a detrimental impact on young people.
Wales’ social justice secretary said: “We are living through profound change. Childhood today is shaped by technology in ways that were unimaginable a generation ago… For many young people, screens, smartphones and online gaming are part of everyday life.”

Health
New research centre launched to tackle historic gender health gap in Wales
A NEW £3m research centre has been launched to tackle long-standing health inequalities faced by women in Wales.
The Women’s Health Research Centre – the first of its kind in Wales – aims to close the historic gender health gap by strengthening investment in women’s health research and improving representation in clinical trials.
The centre was launched to mark the first anniversary of the Women’s Health Plan for Wales, with First Minister Eluned Morgan and Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing Sarah Murphy visiting staff, researchers and community partners involved in the project.
Led by Women’s Health Research Wales, the centre brings together researchers, NHS organisations, industry, policymakers and communities to develop more effective treatments and ensure health services meet women’s needs throughout their lives.
Its work will cover prevention, early-onset conditions, rare diseases and care for under-served communities.
Projects currently in development include research into symptom-reporting tools to improve the management of conditions such as diabetes, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – areas where the specific impact on women has historically been under-researched.
Researchers are also examining the potential health effects of chemicals used in menstrual products, how best to support young people to stay active during periods, and improved care pathways for people with polycystic ovary syndrome to reduce the risk of developing diabetes and heart disease later in life.
Other projects focus on fertility, including a decision-making tool for women with kidney disease who are considering having children.
One study is working directly with women undergoing fertility treatment to understand why the process can lead to mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, with the aim of producing guidance to support trauma-informed fertility care.
First Minister Eluned Morgan said: “I am passionate about improving women’s healthcare. To do that, we must invest in research to gather the evidence we need.
“I am delighted to see how the Welsh Government’s £3m investment, through Health and Care Research Wales, is supporting research based on the experiences of women. This will result in better care and better health outcomes for women.
“This innovative new research centre is a key part of the Women’s Health Plan and will help us better understand women’s experiences. It will lead to more effective treatments and ensure our health service delivers improved outcomes for women in Wales.”
Sarah Murphy, Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, said the early progress had been encouraging.
“I’m thrilled the investment we’ve made in this research centre is already delivering projects in such important and under-researched areas of women’s health,” she said.
“The pioneering work I’ve heard about today – including the impact of infertility on women’s mental health – is exactly what we want the Women’s Health Plan to influence and deliver.
“All of this has been achieved in the first 12 months, and I look forward to seeing what can be delivered over the next year.”
Debbie Shaffer, founder and director of Fair Treatment for the Women of Wales and chair of the Women’s Health Wales Coalition, said partnership working would be key to success.
“Research into health issues experienced by women throughout the life course is vital,” she said.
“By working co-productively, in partnership with women and communities, we have a real opportunity to reduce health inequalities and improve treatment options and support.
“We look forward to helping create more opportunities for people with lived experience – whose voices may not have been heard before – to get involved.”
The Women’s Health Plan for Wales was published in December 2024 and sets out a 10-year approach to improving health outcomes for women, ensuring they are listened to and their health needs properly understood.
Health
Welsh Government intervenes as Gwent health board’s finances ‘deteriorate rapidly’
THE WELSH Government has escalated intervention at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board to one step short of special measures, amid concerns about an £18m deficit and A&E failures.
Jeremy Miles, Wales’ health secretary, announced the Gwent health board will move to level four for finance and emergency care on the government’s five-point scale.
In an update on escalation at each NHS organisation in Wales, Mr Miles warned the health board’s financial position has “deteriorated rapidly” over the past year.
“It is forecasting an £18.3m deficit by the end of March. This is not acceptable,” he said, announcing he will revoke approval of the health board’s three-year plan.
Mr Miles said the health board had been at level three due to concerns about emergency care at the Grange hospital in Cwmbran but will move to level four.
He told the Senedd: “The health board has failed to deliver the required improvements… This will result in direct intervention by the Welsh Government… to improve the timeliness and quality of urgent and emergency care for people living in the Gwent region.”
Mr Miles announced Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, in north Wales, would remain at level five or special measures. He pointed to interventions including a review of planned care, cancer and emergency services as well as an investigation into management of waiting times data.
But he raised “considerable” progress on governance and leadership at Hywel Dda Health Board following the appointment of a new chair and chief executive.
He announced Hywel Dda will be de-escalated to routine, level-one arrangements for governance and leadership. However, the west-Wales health board remains at level three for planned care and cancer as well as level four for finance and A&E performance.
He told Senedd members he was appointing a “senior turnaround director” to provide support to Cardiff and Vale Health Board, which was placed into level four in July.
Mr Miles said the escalation levels of Cwm Taf Morgannwg, Swansea Bay and Powys health boards, as well as other NHS bodies such as the ambulance services trust, will not change. All seven health boards in Wales remain in some form of escalated status.
In today’s (December 16) statement, Mr Miles said long waits are falling as he pointed to a 43% reduction in lost ambulance hours since the last six-monthly update in July.
But James Evans, the Conservatives’ shadow health secretary, questioned whether intervention is delivering meaningful improvements for patients and staff.

Pointing out that Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board has been “trapped” in special measures for most of the past decade, he told the Senedd: “It is deeply concerning that, once again, we see multiple health boards at levels four and five.”
Mr Evans urged ministers to publish performance metrics, risk assessments and evidence used to assign escalation levels to enable decisions to be properly scrutinised.
He warned focusing on local financial mismanagement of health boards risks ignoring wider, systemic challenges driven by the Welsh Government’s policy and funding decisions.
Plaid Cymru’s Mabon ap Gwynfor agreed with his Tory counterpart about “deeper and more systemic” failures becoming a “constant feature” of the government’s record.

“Measures that should be exceptional, temporary and used only as a last resort have instead become routine,” he said. “It is the people of Wales who are paying the price for that failure.”
The Plaid health spokesperson said Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board has come to “embody the Welsh Government’s failure to embed lasting performance improvement”.
Mr ap Gwynfor told the Senedd: “This situation suggests one of two things: either the special measures system itself is not working or there’s no ceiling to Labour’s mismanagement.”
Mr Miles emphasised that escalation is about supporting health boards, not punishing them. The health secretary also pointed to challenges in other parts of the UK, with 12 of the 14 health boards in Scotland also in escalation.

Speaking ahead of the Senedd debate, South Wales East MS Natasha Asghar said: “This serious intervention is a damning indictment of Labour’s track record when it comes to the health service here in Wales and it is my constituents who are paying the price.
The Conservative MS continued: “Our dedicated NHS staff go above and beyond day in, day out, often under unimaginable pressure, but they are being let down by the chaos and mismanagement from the Labour Welsh Government.
“The problems within our health service have been known for quite some time, yet it appears Labour politicians in the Senedd are either reluctant or totally incapable of doing anything to fix the system.
“The Welsh Government must now finally declare a health emergency and focus all efforts on improving outcomes for patients, driving down shamefully high waiting lists, and turning our health service around.”
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