North Wales MS shares his time at Wrexham Maelor Hospital
June 8th marked the 10th anniversary of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board first being placed in special measures.
Speaking in the Welsh Conservative Debate calling on the Welsh Government to initiate a Public Inquiry into the Health Board, I referred to my own experience as a patient at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, 'where the staff were brilliant, but the system was clearly breaking', and said 'Llais North Wales, the people's voice in health and social care, told me two weeks ago that the Health Board remains the primary concern reported to them'.
As Chair of the Cross-Party Group on Disability I met the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice ahead of her Statement on the Welsh Government's Disabled People's Rights Plan.
Responding to the Statement in the Chamber later, I quoted the Chair of the Disability Rights Taskforce's Housing and Community Working Group, who said the draft document was 'a smokescreen' rather than a Plan, and asked how the Welsh Government will ensure that this leads to real change rather than becoming, as he put it, 'a collection of vague intentions dressed up as progress.
No targets. No teeth. No real-world accountability'.
I asked the Cabinet Secretary for Finance to respond to the concerns of Wales' disability sector that the UK Government's proposed reforms to disability benefits risk further disabling people in Wales by compounding poverty and exclusion.
Responding to the Statement on 'Volunteers' Week' by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, I praised voluntary sector organisations but expressed concern at the 'avalanche' of cuts in the sector following the Welsh Government's failure to protect the funding for the vital services they provide, thereby generating false economies and far higher cost pressures for statutory service providers.
I Chaired a meeting of the Senedd Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee, which included an evidence session with the Welsh Government on Active Travel in Wales.
Other engagements included meeting Ukrainian frontline journalists and Ukrainian war crimes investigators from 'Truth Hounds'; Polish Heritage Days 2025 Celebration; Gylfinir Cymru/Curlew Wales meeting, as Wales Species Champion for the Curlew; and 'Transforming Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Diagnosis in Wales'.
I also met the Chief Executive Officer of Rhyl-based not-for-profit organisation RCS, Wellbeing for Work; met the All-Wales Deaf Mental Health and Wellbeing Group (AWDMHWG) and Dr. Christopher Shank from Bangor University, to discuss the AWDMHWG Deaf Health Project through Bangor University; visited The Vale Grocer at Denbigh Farmers Market; and. watched 'Tick, tick…Boom!' at wonderful Theatr Clwyd, Mold.
For help, email Mark.Isherwood@senedd.wales or call 0300 200 7219.
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