 Borda, a chloeso, a cynnydd i ddechrau dwi'n siwr bydd pob o ledled Cymru yn ymuno gyda fi i anfon e'n cydymdeimladau dwysof at y prif wedi dog yn dilyn marwolaeth sydd yn ei anodd rhai cle. Mae mark wedi arwain yn gwlad ni drwy'n o'r cyfnodau anoddau yn ynhanes. Mae arwain niddiath gref wedi bod i raddau heleth oherwydd cyfnogeth casan yn cle. A bodwn i bob amser yn ddioggar i ddi amdano. Mae'n meddwl i eni, gyda prif wedi wedi dog, a'i dailu yn ystod y cyfnoddanaeth yma. Morning and welcome. To start today I'm sure people all across Wales will want to join me in sending our deepest condolences to the First Minister following the sudden passing of his beloved wife Claire. Mark has led our country through one of the toughest times in the history. His strong leadership has been in part thanks to Claire's steadfast support for which we will all be grateful. Our thoughts are with the First Minister and his family at this very difficult time. Diolch yn fawr. Today the cancer services improvement plan has been published by NHS Wales with one in two of us developing some form of cancer in our lifetime. Cancer will touch all of our lives at some point. For those people who develop cancer we need to ensure we have quality services in place to support them and to treat them quickly and appropriately to maximise positive health outcomes. I asked the NHS to come up with a three year plan to improve cancer performance in Wales from investigation and diagnosis through to treatment and end of life care. The Welsh Government is already investing a huge amount in cancer. Over the last decade spending on cancer care has nearly doubled. Last week I announced £86 million for 10 new state-of-the-art radiotherapy machines and a new radiotherapy unit based in Abergavenny. We're also investing in robotic surgery, new breast centres of excellence, reducing the bowel screening age range and the rapid rollout of rapid diagnostic centres. We've increased our training budget for the third year in a row which includes an increase in higher training places for oncology and radiology. Over the past 20 years in Wales the one year survival rates for cancer has improved from 66% to 73% and the five year survival rate has improved from 51% to 58%. Our mortality rate for cancer has decreased from 328 deaths per 100,000 in 2014 to 267 deaths per 100,000 in 2021. In the most recent Wales Cancer Patients Survey 92% of respondents rated their treatment at least 7 out of 10 and 45% rated it as 10 out of 10. The number of people having investigations and being told they don't have cancer each month is at record levels at around 15,000 people. We are making progress but we know performance must improve. We've changed the way we measure performance of cancer services so it can be a more useful tool in improving performance. Our primary target is that 75% of patients requiring cancer treatment should start definitive treatment within 62 days of the point at which cancer is first suspected but we are currently way short of that target. Demand is growing, our capacity struggles to keep pace and we're now much better at accurately counting everyone on a cancer pathway. That translates into the cancer performance we see reported which has been far below our expectations since this new way of measuring performance was introduced. It's fair to say that the pandemic has had its impact too, distorting access and creating huge pressures in the wider system that has had implications for cancer investigations and access to theatres and critical care. Things are very very difficult at the moment with services working flat out to meet the needs of patients but I am pleased to report NHS management data shows a fall in the number of people waiting more than 62 days for their treatment in the run-up to December. A fall in the overall number of people waiting on the cancer pathway and slight improvements in cancer performance in the latest figures published for November. This shows the NHS is giving cancer pathways the focus they deserve although the disruption of Christmas, industrial action and respiratory illness will cause us further challenges in the future. The cancer services improvement plan sets out how health boards will continue that focus on cancer. It focuses on preventing cancer, diagnosing it earlier and faster, treating patients with the most effective treatments and supporting them and their carers through and beyond this cancer pathway. The plan outlines how national cancer waiting times for treatment will be reduced through one shop diagnostic models, the use of technology and innovations and collaboration across health board boundaries. It describes what the NHS and its partners in Wales will do to improve the delivery and accessibility of effective cancer treatments including surgery, radiotherapy, systemic anti-cancer therapy and supportive care. The cancer improvement plan also outlines plans for national guidance for patients who are living with cancer that cannot be cured or who are dying from cancer to ensure that they receive an improved standard of individual, personalised and where necessary end-of-life care. Health care professionals across Wales, cancer patients, wider stakeholders, Welsh Government and the Wales Cancer Alliance have all collaborated to support the production of this plan. I'll now take any questions you have. Diolch yn fawr. I'm going to start with Dan Bevan. Thank you very much minister. Good morning. The main point of the plan is essentially to maintain the current levels for some time as to a point where you can start to reduce them but already patients are not getting the kind of care that they deserve to have and that was the case arguably before the pandemic so is the pandemic now still an excuse for you on these waiting times and essentially you need to go quicker don't you to get through these waiting lists? We absolutely need to go quicker and what we've done here is to work with the experts in the field to come up with a really comprehensive approach. A nine-point plan that looks at the whole gamut of what we need to be considering from prevention and let's not forget that between 30% and 50% of cancers are preventable so there is an issue there. We also need to make sure we have early diagnosis, faster diagnosis. We are absolutely focused on elective care recovery. This is one of the one of the six priorities that I've set for health boards for next year. We want to see consistency in terms of quality across Wales. We want to see effective treatments and obviously end-of-life care where that is appropriate and necessary and a focus really on improving that patient experience is also key for us and making sure that we focus on the workforce and making sure that together we deliver that service across all of those priority areas but it's isn't a plan that is owned that has been developed by and with the NHS. Of course, in the end, it's important that we have a lot of work to do on that and that's why we need to take care of that. We need to take care of the NHS for now. We need to take care of all the things that we need to do in order to make sure that we have 30% or 50% of cancers in preventable. We need to have a diagnosis first, a quick diagnosis, and we need to take care of the health of the NHS. We need to make sure that we have a lot of care and make sure that we endewdio y technoleg a'r cutting-edge technology sy'n ymwais yma. Felly gobeithio fydd rhaen i gyd yn cyfrani a'r profiad mae'r claf yn cael. If I could turn the attention to the strikes next week, they're set to be the biggest in the NHS's history even with the minimum staffing levels and the other measures that you're putting in place and discuss with the unions. I mean there's no way is there that you can guarantee that not a single patient is going to come to harm as a result of the lower level of care that's available on those days can you and again in English and Welsh if I can. Well undoubtedly next week will be one of the most challenging in the history of the NHS. We are very aware of the strength of feeling of people working in the NHS which is why today officials are meeting with trade unions. I'll be meeting with them on Thursday to see if there is any possibility that we can avoid this industrial action. There obviously will be a pressure on services. Clearly there will be a need to cancel quite a lot of elective care on that day which will cause I'm sure a lot of frustration for people but it is important that we put those mitigations in place that we do a lot of preparatory work. We have been working towards this for a number of weeks now to make sure that all those mitigations are in place but obviously that very urgent care will be in place to cover those very serious situations. Rhaid o'n swyddogio ni yma yn Llywodraeth Cymru a byddai'n cwrdd yn nhw ar dydd iau i weld os os unrhyw ffordd allwn ni atal beth yn sicr fydd yn un o'r dyrnodau mwyaf anodd yn hanes yr NHS. Felly yn ni o'n gobeithio y byddwn ni yn gallu gweld gwahaniaeth ond unrhyw roi mysir yma o'n lle i weld os os mwy ddyn ni sicrhau bod pobl yn cael y gofal rhain ni sydd angen yr help mwyaf o'r ond yn aml o'r defydd Llywodraeth o operatio yn Llywodraeth Cymru a Llywodraeth wedi'u cydnod. Felly mae'n defnyddio bod yn dangos o'r oesrwyr hynny, ond wefnodwch yn ddigonion i'r cyfnodd y tîm allu i ddillodraeth aeth bod nhw'n gofyn nhw i'n gofyn nhw i gydag i ddim yn credu i ddillodraeth I know that there will not be their intention in any way to see if anybody comes to harm. Claire? Thank you Minister. I quickly tell you the story of a general I spoke to you towards the end of last year called Raymond. He showed symptoms of prostate cancer and went to his hospital in North Wales and had a standard test done. It showed there was no cancer there. However, his symptoms still showed. Felly mae'r hosbetyl yn rhoi'r cyfnod yma, neu'r gael sy'n ddiolch iawn, sydd wedi cyntaf fyddechau a phrosdeitau ymwyafol. Ond mae'n rhoi'n rhan o'n cyfnod o'r gyfnod oedd yn nôl wales, a wrth fy ffaith ymlaen i'r iddechrau weildog dailwyr yn yr effaith rwy'n cael ei ddwyllg ac mae'n ddigwydd ar gyfer y ffaith yng nghymru am gyda hansgfyrdd, ac mae'r ffaith yn y cwmddol cyfrifigol yng Nghymru wedi'i ddweud cyffredig. Y gael hyn yn ymlaen i ddim yn ddim yn ddweud y gael hynny ac yn credu dos i'r tuw i'r rhaglen i'n gweithwyr i'r llyfridd i gael rheoli i gaelogi. Rhaid fyddwch â'r ffaith, y lwrdyn ni ddim yn cael ei gaelol yma. ma hat gallu gyda heb gwylltol gyda'n gyfarfod yn iawn, a'r gynhwys ar gyfer cwmdeithasol o'r ffordd i'r rhan o'r Fylltau Cymru, ac y gallu cyflym sy'n i ddweud yn gyblafol, gefnau chyflym y gwylltol am y ffordd ein gwith o gyflym o'r gwyllgor. Felly mae'r clyw peth yn ffrifio o'r gwynedd. Yn hyn y prostyt gobyn Cymru, mae ydy'n gwneud cyhoedd posig o gyllud o gy определon yma yma yng nghymru? Mae dros y Gwylion? Ni'n gwybod cyhoedd cyhoedd Cymru? A oedd y dych chi'n dangosu'n ymddangosol y cefnod, y cwylio'n gweithio y llywodau posig o gyllidol? Yn Yn Yn Yn Yn 3, y Gweithgolaeth Llywodraeth yn ydyn nhw'n gwybod llyn gweithgoleu. A dylai quwylio ddyn nhw ddim yn gofyn ynghylch iddyn nhw'n ei wneud o'r gweithreit iawn. Nid ydym ni'n gwneud â'r gweithreit iawn. Ond ydym ni'n chweithio'n cyfnod oherwydd yn cyffinio gweld ffyaith, ac maeDr yma mae droser o'i gwyntio yr unig yn y cyffinio cyffinio gweithreit iawn, neu nad o'i rhoi diolch i'r holl ffrindiffau ei hoffio i weld rhywun o arwain yn cydwyno i gyda Holyfodol i'r rhan o'r guairiau cyfle ar y blaenau'r cyfnod. ond we're not seeing the kind of performance that we need to see. Dan, Davies. Hi, Ters, right? Thank you, Minister. Just on strikes, you'll be aware that the Fire Brigades unions have voted in favour of strike action. They want a better payoff than the one they've been given so far. Just wondered what your reaction was to that and what the Welsh Government could do perhaps to prevent that strike action from taking place. Thanks very much. Well, clearly we're all under a lot of financial pressure. Everybody is suffering with the cost of living crisis, including our own services. So this financial year, I'm in the NHS, we were given a bill for 207 million pound for energy that we weren't expecting. We did get a certain amount of money from the UK government to help us with that, but nothing like what we needed to cover. And so we've had to find those savings from within the services we're given. That's true across the board. And so those inflationary pressures have not led to an increase in money coming from the NHS, from the UK government, which is why we are in this difficult situation, why people are understandably frustrated when they're seeing inflation rates at where they are at the moment, and why we think it's really important for us to continue discussing with our public services to see if we can find a way through this. You'll be aware that in relation to health and education that obviously we have, we are in a discussion with them at the moment for a quantum of money this financial year. But obviously those negotiations have not concluded yet. I suppose it's more concerned for people, isn't it? Many will remember that the scenes from 20 years ago with Green Goddess is going out to help. People won't want to see that again. No, and we haven't seen this level of industrial action for many decades. I think it is fair to say that the erosion of wages of the past 10 years during which the Conservative government in Westminster have been in charge, there has been an effective cut in real wages and people will remember, I hope, who is in power in the UK government and understand that actually we will go as far as we can in Wales to help support people. But obviously the way that we are funded means that we only get money to be commensurate with what they give into those devolved services in the United Kingdom. Jolch yn ystafell. You've just said that when you, under the new way of measuring performance, you've found that performance has been far below your expectations. Is that because the Welsh government hasn't put enough emphasis on cancer diagnosis and treatment in the past? I remember in the last decade there was quite a lively debate about whether you should have a dedicated cancer treatment fund, as had been said by the Conservative government in England. And the Welsh government for a long time said no because it would disadvantage people with other conditions. Does that show that you haven't put enough emphasis on this before the pandemic? No, what's happened is we've changed the way that we count how long people wait for their cancer treatment. So what we do is we count people earlier on their cancer pathway. And that is not something that's done in England. So we think that's more honest with those people who are suffering from cancer. So we don't count people from when they are. They it is decided that they should carry out treatment. We count them from when there is a suspicion that there is cancer, which is significantly earlier in the process. We think that's more honest and that's why. But obviously there is a consequence to that in terms of of the trying to meet the targets that we've set ourselves as we've set out. What we do in the NHS in Wales is we we give the money out to the health boards and then we set them priorities. So I've set only six priorities for next year. One of those priorities is cancer. So I will be expecting a real focus from NHS health boards on cancer care. On the strikes, when you speak to unions on Thursday, as far as we can tell, you're not going to be offering them anything different from what you've offered before in terms of money. So have we reached the point now where we just have to or you just have to acknowledge that there is there is nothing more or you feel you can do to avert strikes in the NHS? So we've been clear that we're not going to give a running commentary on negotiations. There is a quantum of money that we have offered to the unions. We are still in discussions on that. There are a couple of other issues on the table, including, for example, reducing the amount we spend on agency nursing, making sure that we look at how and if we can reform the independent pay review body process. But I think it's important that we try and keep these discussions alive. That's certainly what our intention is and we'll be working up to the very last moment to see if it is possible for us to avoid industrial action. Yn ni yn ymwybodol iawn bod angen i ni'n cariwmlaen i drafod gyda'r yn debyg, beth sy'n iddi wneud i wedi rhoi sum sylweddol o'r arian ar y bwrdd, ar gyfer y flwyddyn arianol yma, dyn ni ddim yn mynd i rhoi trafodaeth maen nhw'n ar y trafodaethau hynny sydd yn digwydd, ond beth sydd yn bwysig i meddwl bod ni'n neud popeth yn yng ngallu ni geisio atel y strikes y trafod digwydd yn y dyfodol agos. Diolch yn fawr.