Cross-border Healthcare

Ann Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Llinos Medi (Ynys Môn) (PC)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) on securing this important debate.

In January, the Welsh mental health charity Llais reported to the Welsh Affairs Committee that

“15-20% of people living in Wales use NHS services in England. In the border counties, this percentage is far higher and can be nearer 50%.”

Existing provisions aim to ensure that no patient’s treatment is denied or delayed due to differing rules or funding responsibilities across health systems on either side of the Wales-England border. None the less, the British Medical Association reports significant issues in how these provisions are offered. These systems can be complicated for patients, who are not always clear about who is responsible when their care and treatment cross the border. People living in Wales continue to face a range of challenges if they need care and treatment in England. Llais’s evidence referred to issues around announcements made by the UK media covering England-only stories. It is not clear whether the announcements apply for the people who live in Wales.

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

My constituent Michael Riordan has asked his GP to refer him to a facility available to armed forces veterans located in Shropshire but, due to an issue with cross-border funding, the Welsh NHS will not fund that facility, despite his residence not being an issue when he volunteered for service to his country. This excellent facility is now unavailable to Michael. Does my hon. Friend agree that current issues in cross-border funding must be addressed for the sake of our constituents?

[Llinos Medi]

That is another example of what we have already heard, where cross-border work is not working for a timely patient outcome. I agree with my hon. Friend.

Ensuring that cross-border health is as seamless as possible means developing strong partnership, introducing effective ways of sharing information and learning, communicating well, and making advice and information easily available and accessible. Solving these issues needs co-operation between Governments on both sides of the border.

It is just over a year since Eluned Morgan, the First Minister of Wales, announced a cross-border health plan. The Secretary of State for Wales, the right hon. Member for Cardiff East (Jo Stevens), vowed to deliver “additional surgical procedures”. When asked to provide an update on that programme in the Senedd last month, and on how many more patients in Wales have been treated in England over the past 12 months, the First Minister’s answer was vague and non-committal. It is obvious that the bureaucratic problem in making cross-border referrals, as evidenced by the British Medical Association and by Powys health board, which has asked to reduce the number of patients sent for treatment due to financial constraints, is completely at odds with the promise made by the First Minister and the Secretary of State. It seems increasingly clear that this announcement has not led to the changes that we all, and our constituents, would like to see on our waiting lists. Those remain stubbornly high in Wales, with figures showing 794,500 to 796,000 patient pathways as of mid-2025.

We are all aware of the huge pressures being placed on the NHS in Wales by social care. In April, the Welsh Local Government Association warned that plans to reduce NHS waiting lists in Wales will fall short unless we see targeted investment in social care. This week, my Plaid Cymru colleagues in the Senedd will follow that advice by calling for the establishment of a national care service for Wales. That would be a serious step in the right direction.

The people of Wales deserve better than poorly planned announcements leading nowhere. I encourage the Minister to impress upon her Welsh Government colleagues to throw their support behind our plan to get to grips with the high waiting list blighting our health service. Diolch.

Dementia Care

Ann Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

Dementia is heartbreaking. With over 944,000 people in the UK suffering from this illness, we need to support families and sufferers in a more holistic manner. Health in Wales is devolved—as it is in Scotland—to the Senedd. However, as dementia affects so many of my constituents, I want to highlight the work that is being done in my constituency to support carers and their loves ones during this difficult period in their lives.

The trajectory for dementia is upwards, with 1.6 million adults expected to suffer from the illness by 2050. Some 70,000 of those will be under the age of 65, so although it is known as an older person’s disease, it is not exclusively so. Lewy body dementia, which affected a very close friend of mine, is thought to account for 15% to 20% of cases of dementia, and it can be difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are so similar to Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. The symptoms for Lewy body dementia can include hallucinations, loss of sleep, movement problems, changes in alertness and attention, and most of all confusion.

I think of how afraid they must feel when they know that something is wrong but they cannot articulate their feelings and do not know what to do or where to go for help, and the same can be said for their carers, families and loved ones. Their world is turned upside down. First they have to navigate a diagnosis, and then they have to obtain the help that is there, but how do they find that help? Where is it and who is there to point them in the right direction?

In Caerfyrddin we have dementia groups and memory clinics, all run by volunteers who have walked this journey with their loved ones—people who understand and care. The Cathen Dementia Group is one such safe space. It runs every Thursday from Llangathen Hall between 2 pm and 4 pm and serves the wider Llandeilo area and all rural villages around it. When I popped in for a visit in January, they said that they wanted a way to reach more people who are living with dementia, such as people who live rurally and do not drive cars and people who do not have the support network that others have on their doorstep.

Working with Dolen Teifi, a third sector volunteer transport provider, we are preparing to have transport in place for the autumn term. Working with the Carmarthenshire Association of Voluntary Services, we will secure funding for not only this but other incidentals that they need in order to operate. Working collaboratively, we can achieve the help that these groups need. The groups provide safe spaces for sufferers of dementia, support for the carers, and the chance to have a cuppa and a chat. The groups provide a bit of normality for a couple of hours a week.

If anybody can help and support these groups, please do. They are a lifeline within my rural constituency, where if people do not drive then they just do not go anywhere or meet anyone. I want to thank Dolen Teifi and the Carmarthenshire Association of Voluntary Services, but I want to give my biggest thanks to the team of volunteers and carers who run groups such as Cathen Dementia Group.

Obesity: Food and Diet

Ann Davies Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

I commend the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) on bringing forward this important debate. It is refreshing that Members on both sides of the Chamber are all agreeing, and trying to find a way forward.

Figures show that more than a quarter of children aged four and five in Wales are measured as being overweight, with one in 10 being obese. While those figures are hugely concerning, the factors for obesity, as has been said, are incredibly complex. They include the impact of poverty, behaviours resulting from technological advances, and unhealthy foods, to name just a few. As hon. Members will know, health is a devolved matter in Wales. Obesity is rightly recognised as one of the most significant public health challenges, both in Cardiff and here in Westminster. At the start of this Senedd term, the then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Eluned Morgan, said:

“I can give you an absolute commitment…I’m absolutely determined that this is an area that we should focus on.”

Four or five years on from that commitment, campaigners are raising the alarm. Obesity Alliance Cymru has said that without urgent action to combat rates of obesity in Wales, our NHS will likely face additional costs of £465 million in Wales by 2050. It is therefore vital that health policy on obesity is receptive to the link between the prevalence of poverty and physical and mental wellbeing. That means resources to promote physical activity and improve health education, and more time for physical education. Plaid Cymru is proud to have secured free school meals for all primary school children in Wales. At the heart of the policy is the belief that each and every child should have access to hot nutritious meals, especially when so many rely on their school lunch as their most substantial meal of the day.

To that end, initiatives are already in place that can achieve the high standard of food produce that we all want for our constituents. Where I live in Llanarthne—it is a small rural village in the middle of nowhere, but it is the heart of Wales—the council-owned Bremenda Isaf farm has been taken over to produce vegetables for the public plate as part of the Bwyd Sir Gâr food partnership. The project proves not only that we can still achieve shorter food supply chains, which are useful for food security and resilience, but that local and Government-led farm to fork initiatives can work successfully both to support local farming and to ensure better quality, tasty food for our children and residents.

The Bremenda Isaf project could be an example to emulate across the whole UK, using public land to produce public food. The UK Government’s shared prosperity fund, which is being cut to £900 million in 2025-26 before being scrapped, was influential in making that initiative happen. I reiterate my call for any wider funding reforms to consider the importance of need-based funding, and for all funding allocations for Wales to be decided in Wales.

Research by Nesta, an innovation foundation, argues that we can reduce obesity and improve population health by improving our food environment. That means looking at the price of healthy options, portion sizes, advertising and promotions, and convenience. In other words, a holistic approach is the way forward. As hon. Members have set out, policy ideas have already been developed to put that in motion. New ideas and initiatives have challenges, but for more effective decision making, we desperately need a different mindset. Under-resourcing these initiatives will inevitably mean higher future spending on health. Now is the time to look at our local communities and learn from them.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

Community Pharmacies: Devon and the South-west

Ann Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Rachel Gilmour]

I agree with both courses of action, and I thank my hon. Friend very much for that important and interesting contribution.

The increase in workload is not sustainable, but that workload is too important not to receive proper backing from central Government as they make headway on their ambition to create what they have referred to, on occasion, as a neighbourhood health service.

Being a Devonian, I would like to go through things logically. First, I will talk about prescriptions. In Tiverton and Minehead, each pharmacy dispenses an average of 7,540 prescriptions every month. Across all 15 pharmacies, that is an average of 113,175 prescriptions each month across the constituency. That is 20,000 more prescriptions each month than the House of Commons Library says there are people in the entire constituency. Prescriptions that provide life-altering medications for constituents are the front door to the work of pharmacies. They are what most people think pharmacies do most often, but our pharmacies do a lot more work in our villages, towns and cities.

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

It matters not whether the community pharmacy is in Devon or my constituency of Caerfyrddin; drug tariffs, which put such a strain on our pharmacists, need to be reviewed, and an uplift is long overdue. Would the hon. Member agree that we need to highlight that financial shortfall to the Government, and that something needs to be done immediately?

[Rachel Gilmour]

I agree that we need to do that as often as possible. I will move on to the workload. This is not a typical example: along with prescriptions, in Tiverton and Minehead each pharmacy conducted 398 flu vaccines on average during the 2023-24 season, higher than the national average of 355.

If Members are unfortunate enough to need their blood pressure checked, they can go to a pharmacy. Across the UK, 930,000 hypertension blood pressure checks are undertaken in just one year. With public health as a driving mission for the Government, I would hope that this was something they could support wherever it takes place. Pharmacies also offer a range of other clinical and public health services, including providing flu and covid-19 vaccinations, and if further services were to be commissioned from community pharmacies in the context of sustainable core funding, the sector could do even more to improve access to primary care.