Hot Seat
On the health service and air pollution
MANY people contact me regarding their local health service.
I was able to raise a number of issues when I recently met with bosses at Hywel Dda University Health Board.
In Plaid Cymru’s response to the health board’s consultation on clinical services we outlined that no changes to hospitals could be made before the communitybased facilities were in place and assessed.
We called for integration of health and social care with joint working between the health board and the three local councils in the area to provide an integrated community health and care provision.
We can build on what good practice already exists, for example the Prince Philip Hospital GP and nurse-led Minor Injuries Unit.
The facility routinely sees more than 100 patients a day with low admission rates and an excellent team ethos.
We have demanded the Labour-led Welsh Government guarantees community beds and capital investment for the area.
Dirty air is quite literally killing us, which is why we need to do something about the issue.
Air pollution contributes to about 2,000 deaths per year in Wales and has been described by Public Health Wales as an urgent public health crisis.
Children exposed to severe air pollution are five times more likely to have poor lung development, and increased infection susceptibility this is why Plaid Cymru would give communities the freedom to place pollution monitoring equipment outside of schools and hospitals. We are calling for a Clean Air Act for Wales.
Last week I quizzed the Welsh Government on how local air quality measures, such as clean air zones, will be funded.