“It’s disgraceful that it has taken until now to start seeing things from the perspective of women and girls in healthcare” says Ynys Môn MS

07/07/2022By: Francess Ifan

Rhun ap Iorwerth welcomes Welsh Government’s ten-year women’s health plan but insists that it must bring real change

On Tuesday 5 July 2022, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS responded to the Minister for Health and Social Services, Eluned Morgan’s quality statement on women and girls’ health. In that statement, Welsh Government also announced plans for an autumn publication of a ten-year women’s health plan. This comes two months after Plaid Cymru tabled a motion to the Senedd emphasising the importance of addressing issues around women and girls’ health.

Whilst welcoming the statement, Rhun ap Iorwerth, Member of the Senedd for Ynys Môn asked for an assurance that adequate resources would be set aside to implement the plan, emphasising the need for it to make a real difference to women and girls’ lives.

The British Heart Foundation estimates that the deaths of 8,000 women over a 10-year period could have been prevented if they had received cardiac care suited to their needs.

In his response to the plans, Rhun ap Iorwerth, Member of the Senedd for Ynys Mon said:

“It is astonishing and disgraceful, if truth be told, that it has taken us until now to start seeing things from the perspective of women and girls in healthcare.”

Mr ap Iorwerth, a member of the Senedd’s Health and Social Care Committee and Plaid Cymru spokesperson on Health and Care, not only questioned how the plan would be financed but also how progress would be measured, stressing the need to ensure that a real change is made to the care that women and girls receive.

Rhun ap Iorwerth MS added:

“It is crucial that women feel a difference, and that we as parliamentarians see that the plan announced by Welsh Government makes a difference.

“I therefore asked the Minister how women will be able to witness and get a feeling that there has been a change and that that change is having a clear impact on the care that they receive within our health and care services.”

The Minister, Eluned Morgan MS, announced that health boards would have to meet the plan within their own resources but that in its development £160,000 of additional finance has been set aside.

ENDS