English: Diolch yn fawr. I'd like to thank Russell and the Conservatives for bringing forward this important debate about cancer services and outcomes. I can tell you that I've listened very carefully to everything that's been said and I will go away and I will consider your deliberations and make sure that I give some serious thought to what you have been talking about this afternoon. I'm afraid I won't be able to support the resolution on a number of grounds, and I'd like to explain why. But I do acknowledge that we need to do better on cancer. It is genuinely a matter of life and death. I accept that the quality statement has got to be the start of the story, not the end of the story, and certainly there's a lot more work to do in this space. One of the problems with the motion is that it conflates overall waiting times with cancer waiting times. The waiting time for normal elective care is very different from the 62-day cancer pathway. Cancer patients have always been treated with clinical urgency in Wales. Cancer was designated an essential service at the start of the pandemic, and, whenever possible, we've maintained and we've prioritised cancer services throughout. This has resulted in new pathways and seeing patients differently. Some of those lessons are genuinely positive and we need to embed them. The motion also implies that a cancer strategy is the only way to improve cancer outcomes and alleges that Wales is an outlier across the UK. But I'm afraid that that's just not the case. At the moment, England includes cancer in its long-term plan, Northern Ireland doesn't have a strategy, and Scotland's strategy predates the pandemic. It is self-evident that in order to recover cancer services we will have to deliver more cancer treatment than we have historically, but the difficulty is that we're still in the middle of a pandemic where productivity is reduced by infection controls and by staff having to isolate. Nonetheless, I don't wish to dismiss the concern that we all feel about how the pandemic has impacted on cancer services. I've said on many occasions how concerned I am about the impact on cancer services. That's why we brought forward our new approach to cancer services during the pandemic. That's why cancer was the only disease that was singled out in the March 2021 recovery plan. It's why I'm making recovery in cancer services a key focus of health board planning. It's why I'm investing in recovery activity, new equipment, training more cancer clinicians and new facilities across Wales. It's my intention to publish a planned care recovery plan in April, and this of course will include a range of actions and measures that will support cancer patients. There has been much criticism levelled at the concept of a quality statement for cancer, but I'd remind Members that our intention to publish a series of quality statements was set out in 'A Healthier Wales'. It was the response to the parliamentary review. It said that quality statements would describe the outcomes and the standards we'd expect to see in high-quality, patient-focused services.
Welsh: Diolch yn fawr. Hoffwn ddiolch i Russell a'r Ceidwadwyr am gyflwyno'r ddadl bwysig hon am wasanaethau a chanlyniadau canser. Gallaf ddweud wrthych fy mod wedi gwrando'n ofalus iawn ar bopeth sydd wedi'i ddweud a byddaf yn ystyried eich sylwadau ac yn gwneud yn siŵr fy mod yn rhoi ystyriaeth ddifrifol i'r hyn y buoch yn sôn amdano y prynhawn yma. Mae gennyf ofn na fyddaf yn gallu cefnogi'r penderfyniad am nifer o resymau, a hoffwn esbonio pam. Ond rwy'n cydnabod bod angen inni wneud yn well ar ganser. Mae'n fater o fywyd a marwolaeth go iawn. Rwy'n derbyn bod yn rhaid i'r datganiad ansawdd fod yn ddechrau'r stori, nid diwedd y stori, ac yn sicr mae llawer mwy o waith i'w wneud yn y gofod hwn. Un o'r problemau gyda'r cynnig yw ei fod yn cyfuno amseroedd aros cyffredinol ag amseroedd aros canser. Mae'r amser aros ar gyfer gofal dewisol arferol yn wahanol iawn i'r llwybr canser 62 diwrnod. Mae cleifion canser bob amser wedi cael eu trin â brys clinigol yng Nghymru. Dynodwyd canser yn wasanaeth hanfodol ar ddechrau'r pandemig, a lle bynnag y bo modd, rydym wedi cynnal ac wedi blaenoriaethu gwasanaethau canser drwy gydol yr amser. Mae hyn wedi arwain at lwybrau newydd a gweld cleifion mewn ffyrdd gwahanol. Mae rhai o'r gwersi hynny'n wirioneddol gadarnhaol ac mae angen inni eu hymgorffori. Mae'r cynnig hefyd yn awgrymu mai strategaeth canser yw'r unig ffordd o wella canlyniadau canser ac mae'n honni bod Cymru'n allanolyn ar draws y DU. Ond mae gennyf ofn nad yw hynny'n wir. Ar hyn o bryd, mae Lloegr yn cynnwys canser yn ei chynllun hirdymor, nid oes gan Ogledd Iwerddon strategaeth, ac roedd strategaeth yr Alban yn rhagflaenu'r pandemig. Er mwyn gwella gwasanaethau canser, mae'n amlwg y bydd yn rhaid inni ddarparu mwy o driniaeth canser nag a wnaethom yn hanesyddol, ond yr anhawster yw ein bod yn dal ynghanol pandemig lle y mae cynhyrchiant wedi ei leihau gan fesurau rheoli heintiau a chan staff yn gorfod ynysu. Er hynny, nid wyf am ddiystyru'r pryder y mae pawb ohonom yn ei deimlo am y modd y mae'r pandemig wedi effeithio ar wasanaethau canser. Rwyf wedi dweud droeon pa mor bryderus rwyf i am yr effaith ar wasanaethau canser. Dyna pam y gwnaethom gyflwyno ein dull newydd o ymdrin â gwasanaethau canser yn ystod y pandemig. Dyna pam mai canser oedd yr unig glefyd a gafodd ei glustnodi yng nghynllun adfer mis Mawrth 2021. Dyna pam rwy'n gwneud gwella gwasanaethau canser yn ffocws allweddol i gynlluniau byrddau iechyd. Dyna pam rwy'n buddsoddi mewn gweithgarwch adfer, offer newydd, hyfforddi mwy o glinigwyr canser a chyfleusterau newydd ledled Cymru. Fy mwriad yw cyhoeddi cynllun adfer gofal wedi'i gynllunio ym mis Ebrill, a bydd hwnnw, wrth gwrs, yn cynnwys ystod o gamau gweithredu a mesurau a fydd yn cefnogi cleifion canser. Gwelwyd llawer o feirniadu ar y cysyniad o ddatganiad ansawdd ar gyfer canser, ond hoffwn atgoffa'r Aelodau fod ein bwriad i gyhoeddi cyfres o ddatganiadau ansawdd wedi'i nodi yn 'Cymru Iachach'. Dyna oedd yr ymateb i'r adolygiad seneddol. Dywedai y byddai datganiadau ansawdd yn disgrifio'r canlyniadau a'r safonau y byddem yn disgwyl eu gweld mewn gwasanaethau o ansawdd uchel sy'n canolbwyntio ar y claf.