English: Cabinet Secretary, thank you for your statement today. I welcome hugely the great strides made forward in the delivery of stroke services. There was much in this report that I found to be of really good news. I do have a couple of questions, though, that spin from it. The first is that NICE guidelines suggest that patients suffering from stroke should, as you know, start thrombolysis within three hours of arriving at hospital. I've submitted an FOI on this to all the health boards, and from the responses I've received so far, which is just three of them, they've all had, consistently, patients waiting for between three and five hours. I wondered if you could tell me what plans are in place to ensure that these health boards are able to start this treatment within the three-hour window. And if I could just refer back to the debate last week on the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, this is entirely the point that I was trying to make about strokes not being in the red category, because my concern is that, if they've waited a while out in the field, and then they're still waiting again whilst they're in hospital, then by the time they actually have that treatment, they are many, many hours down the road and therefore are less likely to have success. Just whilst we're on the recommended guidelines, could you also please make a comment on the Royal College of Physicians's recent guidelines that say that they believe that all stroke patients should receive a brain scan within one hour, and whether or not you think that we are able to drive towards that? My second area of questioning concerns strokes in children and babies. Now, I admit they're rare, but I wondered if there's been anything specifically done to minimise such occurrences. The framework refers to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health consulting on stroke-in-childhood clinical guidelines. Could you please provide an indication of when you expect this to be published and how long it might take to implement any recommendations? There obviously needs to be a clear pathway for the treatment of children and babies and, because it is rare, I do accept that it is unrealistic for every health board to have full provision, so I wondered what plans you might be putting in place so that children and babies who suffer strokes can access that very, very vital service. Finally, the last area I'd like to concentrate on is the inequality agenda - or the equality agenda. According to the 'State of the Nation', and the stroke statistics published last year, people from a black or south-Asian background have strokes at a significantly younger age than Caucasian people. Is there anything being done to specifically target healthcare education and preventative measures to those communities? At present, they are being disadvantaged because of the sheer prevalence within their cultural community, or cultural heritage, and it would be really useful to know what Government plans there are to actually tackle that specific area. Finally, Wales has the highest percentage of people with high blood pressure per population in the UK and, again, I wondered if, as part of the stroke delivery plan, you might be looking to see if there are any updates you can give us on what we might do to drive that down, if anything's changed in the last 18 months. Thank you very much.
Welsh: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, diolch i chi am eich datganiad heddiw. Rwy'n croesawu'n enfawr y cynnydd sylweddol a wnaed o ran y ddarpariaeth o wasanaethau strôc. Roedd llawer yn yr adroddiad hwn a oedd yn newyddion da iawn yn fy marn i. Mae gen i un neu ddau o gwestiynau, fodd bynnag, sy'n troelli ohono. Y cyntaf yw'r ffaith bod canllawiau NICE yn awgrymu y dylai cleifion sy'n dioddef o strôc, fel y gwyddoch, ddechrau triniaeth thrombolysis o fewn tair awr o gyrraedd yr ysbyty. Rwyf wedi cyflwyno Cais Rhyddid Gwybodaeth ynglŷn â hyn i'r holl fyrddau iechyd, ac o'r ymatebion yr wyf wedi'u derbyn hyd yn hyn, sef dim ond tri ohonyn nhw, maen nhw i gyd, yn gyson, wedi cael achosion o gleifion yn aros am rhwng tair a phum awr. Tybed a allech chi ddweud wrthyf pa gynlluniau sydd ar waith i sicrhau y gall y byrddau iechyd hyn ddechrau'r driniaeth hon o fewn y cyfnod amser o dair awr. Ac os caf i gyfeirio yn ôl at y ddadl yr wythnos diwethaf ar Ymddiriedolaeth GIG Gwasanaethau Ambiwlans Cymru, dyma'r union bwynt yr oeddwn i'n ceisio ei wneud ynglŷn â'r ffaith nad yw achosion o strôc yn y categori coch, oherwydd fy mhryder i yw, os ydyn nhw wedi bod yn aros am sbel yn y maes, a'u bod nhw'n dal i aros eto yn yr ysbyty, yna erbyn iddyn nhw gael y driniaeth honno mewn gwirionedd, mae llawer iawn o oriau wedi mynd heibio, ac felly mae'n llai tebygol y ceir llwyddiant. Gan ein bod ni'n sôn am y canllawiau a argymhellir, a wnewch chi hefyd wneud sylwadau ar ganllawiau diweddar Coleg Brenhinol y Meddygon sy'n dweud eu bod yn credu y dylai pob claf strôc gael sgan ar yr ymennydd o fewn awr, a pha un a ydych chi'n credu y gallwn ni gyflawni hynny? Mae fy ail faes o holi yn ymwneud ag achosion o strôc ymhlith plant a babanod. Nawr, rwy'n cyfaddef eu bod yn brin, ond tybed a wnaed unrhyw beth yn benodol i sicrhau bod cyn lleied â phosibl o ddigwyddiadau o'r fath. Mae'r fframwaith yn cyfeirio at y Coleg Brenhinol Pediatreg ac Iechyd Plant yn ymgynghori ar ganllawiau clinigol ar strôc yn ystod plentyndod. A allech chi roi syniad o bryd yr ydych chi'n disgwyl i'r rhain gael eu cyhoeddi a pha mor hir y gallai ei gymryd i weithredu unrhyw argymhellion? Yn amlwg, mae angen llwybr eglur ar gyfer trin plant a babanod a, gan ei fod yn brin, rwy'n derbyn ei bod yn afrealistig i bob bwrdd iechyd gael darpariaeth lawn, felly roeddwn i'n meddwl tybed pa gynlluniau y gallech chi fod yn eu rhoi ar waith fel y gall plant a babanod sy'n dioddef strôc gael mynediad at y gwasanaeth gwbl hanfodol hwnnw. I gloi, y maes olaf yr hoffwn ganolbwyntio arno yw'r agenda anghydraddoldeb - neu'r agenda cydraddoldeb. Yn ôl 'Cyflwr y Genedl', a'r ystadegau strôc a gyhoeddwyd y llynedd, mae pobl o gefndir du neu dde-Asiaidd yn dioddef strôc ar oedran sylweddol iau na phobl Gawcasaidd. A oes unrhyw beth yn cael ei wneud i dargedu addysg gofal iechyd a mesurau ataliol i'r cymunedau hynny yn benodol? Ar hyn o bryd, maen nhw o dan anfantais yn gyfan gwbl oherwydd nifer yr achosion yn eu cymuned ddiwylliannol, neu eu treftadaeth ddiwylliannol, a byddai'n ddefnyddiol iawn cael gwybod pa gynlluniau sydd gan y Llywodraeth i fynd i'r afael â'r maes penodol hwnnw. Yn olaf, Cymru sydd â'r ganran uchaf o bobl â phwysedd gwaed uchel fesul poblogaeth yn y DU ac, unwaith eto, roeddwn i'n meddwl tybed, yn rhan o'r cynllun cyflawni ar gyfer strôc, a ydych chi'n edrych i weld a oes unrhyw ddiweddariadau y gallwch chi eu rhoi i ni ar yr hyn y gallem ni ei wneud i leihau hynny, os oes unrhyw beth wedi newid yn ystod y 18 mis diwethaf. Diolch yn fawr iawn.