Clwyd West Assembly Member Darren Millar has called on the Welsh Government to ensure that children and young people across Wales with life limiting illnesses get the palliative care they need.
Speaking in the Senedd this week, Darren said it is vital that people across Wales can get access to the “very important palliative care that is sometimes unfortunately needed for children and young people”.
He made the plea when calling for a statement from the Minister for Health and Social Services in relation to hospice care for children in Wales.
He said: “The Business Manager may well be aware that there was a recent report by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales called 'How are healthcare services meeting the needs of young people?' and in that report it made a very clear recommendation that the Welsh Government need to assess any unmet demand for palliative care services to make sure that children and young people across Wales get the care that they need.
“I think it's very important that we understand the timescales for undertaking that piece of work to make sure that our constituents can get access to the very important palliative care that is sometimes unfortunately needed for children and young people.
“We have some excellent children's hospices here in Wales with Tŷ Gobaith children's hospices in the north and Tŷ Hafan here in the south. I think it's very, very important that we make sure that they have the capacity to deal with the children from Wales who need that sort of care and support. I would appreciate it if a statement could be brought forward.”
The Minister for Finance and Trefnydd, Rebecca Evans AM, agreed that it is important to understand whether or not there is unmet demand for palliative care for children and young people in Wales, and said she would ask the health Minister “to explore that in the context of the report to which you referred and to write to you with an update”.