English: I call for a single Welsh Government statement, hopefully from the health Secretary, on multiparametric - or mp - MRI scans for suspected prostate cancer patients from NHS Wales. When I wrote to the health Secretary regarding this, he wrote back to me last week saying that the current guideline from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - or NICE - doesn't recommend pre-biopsy mpMRI, and there's no clinical consensus on the optimum design of a prostate cancer pathway including this. When the community health council for north Wales wrote to him, welcoming his commitment to expect health boards to revise their diagnostic pathways to incorporate these scans, if recommended by NICE in revised guidelines after April 2019, they also expressed concern that this would be too late, that patients in north Wales will continue to be left behind, and their discussions with neurologists in north Wales suggest that we need to be developing the service now in preparation for NICE accreditation. The reply on this occasion was, 'Once the clinical benefits have been assessed, and if the guidance is updated, I would expect health boards to revise their diagnostic pathways.' However, the current guidance says that the key priorities for implementation in the prostate cancer diagnosis and management, from NICE, includes: 'Consider multiparametric MRIfor men with a negative transrectal ultrasound 10-12 core biopsy to determine whether another biopsy is needed.' Well, last Friday, I met constituents - patients - who have had to spend large sums of money after that guidance was followed by a consultant in Wrexham, but the NHS in north Wales would not fund the essential scans that they ultimately received across the border in England. One told me he'd spent £1,020. He also told me that these scans were more than twice as accurate as those currently available. That gentleman was from Flintshire. Another one told me - a gentleman from Llangollen - that the buck stops with the Welsh Government because they put the the health board into special measures, and that he is amongst nine men from north Wales who have now had to pay for this despite it being available in England and south Wales. They want to meet the Minister. They say that they want him to accept that the same should be happening in north Wales, and they ask why people like him aren't being refunded when they've had to pay for this potentially life-saving procedure themselves. Waiting for 2019 is not good enough, Cabinet Secretary. These men's lives are at risk. It's available in parts of Wales. You say you believe in a single NHS Wales. Well, please deliver on that now.
Welsh: Rwy'n galw am un datganiad gan Lywodraeth Cymru, gobeithio gan yr Ysgrifennydd iechyd, ar sganio MRI amlbarametrig - neu mp - ar gyfer cleifion GIG Cymru y mae amheuaeth bod canser y brostad arnynt. Pan ysgrifennais at yr Ysgrifennydd iechyd ynghylch y mater hwn, ysgrifennodd yn ôl ataf yr wythnos diwethaf yn dweud nad yw'r canllawiau presennol gan y Sefydliad Cenedlaethol dros Ragoriaeth mewn Iechyd a Gofal - neu NICE - yn argymell mpMRI cyn biopsi, ac nad oes unrhyw gonsensws clinigol ar y cynllun gorau posibl ar gyfer llwybr canser y brostad sy'n cynnwys hyn. Pan ysgrifennodd cyngor iechyd cymuned gogledd Cymru ato, yn croesawu ei ymrwymiad i ddisgwyl bod byrddau iechyd yn adolygu eu llwybrau diagnostig i ymgorffori'r sganiau hyn, pe byddai NICE yn argymell hynny mewn canllawiau diwygiedig ar ôl mis Ebrill 2019, mynegwyd pryder hefyd y byddai hyn yn rhy hwyr, y bydd cleifion yn y gogledd yn parhau i gael eu gadael ar ôl, ac mae eu trafodaethau â niwrolegwyr yn y gogledd yn awgrymu bod angen inni ddatblygu'r gwasanaeth yn awr er mwyn paratoi ar gyfer achrediad NICE. Yr ateb y tro hwn oedd, 'Pan fydd y manteision clinigol wedi eu hasesu, ac os caiff y canllawiau eu diweddaru, byddwn i'n disgwyl i fyrddau iechyd adolygu eu llwybrau diagnostig.' Fodd bynnag, mae'r canllawiau presennol yn dweud bod y blaenoriaethau gweithredu allweddol o ran diagnosis a rheoli canser y brostad, gan NICE, yn cynnwys: 'Ystyried MRI amlbarametrigar gyfer dynion â biopsi craidd 10-12 uwchsain trawsrectol negyddol i benderfynu ar ba un a oes angen biopsi arall.' Wel, ddydd Gwener diwethaf, cwrddais i ag etholwyr - cleifion - sydd wedi gorfod gwario symiau mawr o arian ar ôl i ymgynghorydd yn Wrecsam ddilyn y canllawiau hynny, ond nid oedd y GIG yn y gogledd yn fodlon ariannu'r sganiau hanfodol a gawsant dros y ffin yn Lloegr, yn y pen draw. Dywedodd un wrthyf ei fod wedi gwario £1,020. Dywedodd wrthyf hefyd fod y sganiau hyn fwy na ddwywaith yn fwy cywir na'r rhai sydd ar gael ar hyn o bryd. Roedd y gŵr bonheddig hwnnw o Sir y Fflint. Dywedodd un arall wrthyf - gŵr bonheddig o Langollen - mai cyfrifoldeb Llywodraeth Cymru yw hyn oherwydd mai nhw roddodd y Bwrdd Iechyd mewn mesurau arbennig, a'i fod yn un o naw o ddynion o'r gogledd sydd wedi gorfod talu am hyn er ei fod ar gael yn Lloegr ac yn y de. Maen nhw eisiau cwrdd â'r Gweinidog. Maen nhw'n dweud eu bod eisiau iddo dderbyn y dylai'r un peth fod yn digwydd yn y gogledd, ac maen nhw'n gofyn pam nad yw pobl fel fe yn cael eu had-dalu pan fu'n rhaid iddyn nhw dalu eu hunain am y weithdrefn hon a allai achub eu bywydau. Nid yw'n ddigon da aros tan 2019, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet. Mae bywydau'r dynion hyn mewn perygl. Mae ar gael mewn rhannau o Gymru. Rydych chi'n dweud eich bod chi'n credu mewn un GIG Cymru. Wel, cyflawnwch ar hynny nawr os gwelwch yn dda.