English: Although I'm receiving a high volume of e-mails regarding COVID-related delays in the Welsh NHS, all recognise the hard work, dedication and commitment of staff in the healthcare sector. The Labour Welsh Government describes the increase in patients waiting for all treatments in the Welsh NHS compared to September 2019 as a trend that has been seen in all areas of the UK. This is of course both true and inevitable. However, despite the magnificent job done by the Welsh NHS in caring for people who have contracted COVID-19, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on issues within our Welsh NHS resulting from over two decades of Labour Welsh Government policies. Neurology was already chronically underfunded in Wales before the pandemic, with large gaps in service provision resulting in delays to diagnosis of months and sometimes years, lack of follow-up and community support, as well as low levels of access to specialist and end-of-life care. In terms of access to services and treatments, an MS Society survey in 2019 showed that Wales was already lagging behind the rest of the UK before the pandemic, with 42 per cent of people in Wales having unmet need for physiotherapy compared to 30 per cent in England, and 70 per cent of people in Wales living with MS not having received any emotional or psychological support, compared to 13 per cent across the UK. The Wales Neurological Alliance survey on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic revealed that it had had major ramifications on the provision of health and social care services for people living with neurological conditions, with services and treatment delayed or stopped. After I asked the First Minister when essential surgery will resume for highly vulnerable children or adults with epilepsy earlier this month he wrote stating that epilepsy surgery has not stopped. However, hospital episode statistics show far lower numbers and longer waits for both respective surgery and vagus nerve stimulation surgery in Wales, compared to England. I am advised that there have been no adult VNS surgeries, either new implantations or battery replacements, since the pandemic started in March, resulting in people not getting the essential surgery and therapy they need. In August, I met campaigners from Macmillan Cancer Support online to discuss their lived experience of the worrying impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on cancer services in Wales. Macmillan Cancer Support has noted that England's backlog of cancer patients will take less time to get through than in Wales, where the median waiting time for patients waiting to start treatment at the end of September in England was less than half that of Wales. By 29 April, 21 COVID-free cancer hubs were set up in England, run by cancer alliances. The Scottish and Northern Irish NHS have also used independent hospital capacity to set up COVID-free cancer hubs. However, as Macmillan Cancer Support stated, Wales is lagging behind England when it comes to setting up COVID-19-free hubs to treat cancer patients in Wales. Both Scotland and England have had plans in place for several months to ensure that cancer patients are seen and operated on swiftly. However, as Macmillan Cancer Support stated, we need the Welsh Government to put in place a fully fledged COVID-19 recovery plan for cancer services and to tackle a cancer care backlog that will only continue to grow with every disruption in Wales to cancer services caused by this pandemic. Their research shows an estimated 2,900 people in Wales could be living with undiagnosed cancer because of the pandemic. As they said, it is a wholly inappropriate for the Welsh Government to suggest that a plan for clearing the already substantial cancer backlog would be, quote, 'foolish'. Cancer, they said, cannot wait for the pandemic to end, and Macmillan wants to make sure cancer is not the forgotten 'c' of the pandemic. Cancer Research Wales has warned that many of the people who did not receive their invitation due to the pause in cancer screening services, who put off seeing their GP for fear of COVID-19 or concern about adding to NHS pressures, could have cancer. They said that, unless it is addressed quickly, the outcomes for patients in Wales will be less positive, that Wales already had a low reputation for cancer outcomes, and this will experience significant damage in the coming years and that it is through a COVID-19 recovery plan for cancer services that Wales will be able to understand the scale of the challenge and be able to coherently draw all approaches from across Wales together. As our motion, therefore, states, Wales needs a cancer recovery plan, as seen elsewhere across the UK.
Welsh: Er fy mod yn derbyn nifer fawr o negeseuon e-bost ynglŷn ag oedi sy'n gysylltiedig â COVID yn GIG Cymru, mae pob un ohonynt yn cydnabod gwaith caled, ymroddiad ac ymrwymiad staff yn y sector gofal iechyd. Mae Llywodraeth Lafur Cymru yn disgrifio'r cynnydd yn nifer y cleifion sy'n aros am bob triniaeth yn GIG Cymru o'i gymharu â mis Medi 2019 fel tuedd a welwyd ym mhob rhan o'r DU. Mae hyn yn wir wrth gwrs ac yn anochel. Fodd bynnag, er gwaethaf y gwaith gwych a wnaethpwyd gan GIG Cymru yn gofalu am bobl sydd wedi dal COVID-19, mae'r pandemig wedi tynnu sylw at broblemau yn ein GIG yng Nghymru o ganlyniad i dros ddau ddegawd o bolisïau Llafur Llywodraeth Cymru. Roedd niwroleg eisoes yn cael ei danariannu'n helaeth yng Nghymru cyn y pandemig, gyda bylchau mawr yn y gwasanaethau a ddarperir yn arwain at oedi o fisoedd, a blynyddoedd weithiau cyn cael diagnosis, diffyg gofal dilynol a chymorth cymunedol, yn ogystal â lefelau isel o fynediad at ofal arbenigol a gofal diwedd oes. O ran mynediad at wasanaethau a thriniaethau, dangosodd arolwg gan y Gymdeithas MS yn 2019 fod Cymru eisoes ar ei hôl hi o gymharu â gweddill y DU cyn y pandemig, gyda 42 y cant o bobl yng Nghymru ag angen nas diwallwyd am ffisiotherapi o'i gymharu â 30 y cant yn Lloegr, a bod 70 y cant o'r bobl yng Nghymru sy'n byw gydag MS heb gael unrhyw gymorth emosiynol na seicolegol , o'i gymharu â 13 y cant ledled y DU. Datgelodd arolwg Cynghrair Niwrolegol Cymru ar effaith y pandemig coronafeirws fod iddo oblygiadau mawr o ran darparu gwasanaethau iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol i bobl sy'n byw gyda chyflyrau niwrolegol, gyda gwasanaethau a thriniaethau wedi eu gohirio neu eu hatal. Ar ôl i mi ofyn i'r Prif Weinidog yn gynharach y mis hwn pryd y bydd llawdriniaethau hanfodol yn ailddechrau ar gyfer plant neu oedolion ag epilepsi sy'n agored iawn i niwed, ysgrifennodd i ddweud nad yw llawdriniaethau epilepsi wedi dod i ben. Fodd bynnag, mae ystadegau episodau ysbyty yn dangos niferoedd llawer is ac amseroedd aros hwy ar gyfer llawdriniaethau a llawfeddygaeth i ysgogi'r nerf fagws yng Nghymru o'i gymharu â Lloegr. Dywedwyd wrthyf na fu unrhyw feddygfeydd ysgogi'r nerf fagws i oedolion, naill ai mewnblaniadau newydd neu ailosod batri, ers i'r pandemig ddechrau ym mis Mawrth, gan arwain at amddifadu pobl o'r llawdriniaeth a'r therapi hanfodol sydd eu hangen arnynt. Ym mis Awst, cyfarfûm ag ymgyrchwyr Cymorth Canser Macmillan ar-lein i drafod eu profiad o'r effaith ofidus y mae'r pandemig coronafeirws yn ei chael ar wasanaethau canser yng Nghymru. Mae Cymorth Canser Macmillan wedi nodi y bydd ôl-groniad Lloegr o gleifion canser yn cymryd llai o amser i fynd drwyddo nag yng Nghymru, lle roedd yr amser aros canolrifol i gleifion sy'n aros i ddechrau triniaeth ddiwedd mis Medi yn Lloegr yn llai na hanner yr hyn ydoedd yng Nghymru. Erbyn 29 Ebrill, sefydlwyd 21 o hybiau canser rhydd o COVID yn Lloegr, sy'n cael eu rhedeg gan gynghreiriau canser. Mae GIG yr Alban a GIG Gogledd Iwerddon hefyd wedi defnyddio capasiti ysbytai annibynnol i sefydlu hybiau canser rhydd o COVID. Fodd bynnag, fel y dywedodd Cymorth Canser Macmillan, mae Cymru ar ei hôl hi o gymharu â Lloegr mewn perthynas â sefydlu hybiau rhydd o COVID-19 i drin cleifion canser yng Nghymru. Mae gan yr Alban a Lloegr gynlluniau ar waith ers sawl mis i sicrhau bod cleifion canser yn cael eu gweld ac yn cael llawdriniaeth yn gyflym. Fodd bynnag, fel y dywedodd Cymorth Canser Macmillan, mae angen i Lywodraeth Cymru sefydlu cynllun adfer COVID-19 llawn ar gyfer gwasanaethau canser a mynd i'r afael ag ôl-groniad gofal canser na fydd ond yn parhau i dyfu bob tro y bydd tarfu ar wasanaethau canser yng Nghymru yn sgil y pandemig hwn. Mae eu hymchwil yn dangos y gallai tua 2,900 o bobl yng Nghymru fod yn byw gyda chanser heb gael diagnosis oherwydd y pandemig. Fel y dywedasant, mae'n gwbl amhriodol i Lywodraeth Cymru awgrymu y byddai cynllun ar gyfer clirio'r ôl-groniad canser sydd eisoes yn sylweddol yn 'ffôl'. Ni all canser aros i'r pandemig ddod i ben, meddant, ac mae Macmillan am sicrhau nad canser yw'r 'c' a anghofiwyd yn sgil y pandemig. Mae Ymchwil Canser Cymru wedi rhybuddio y gallai fod canser ar lawer o'r bobl na chafodd wahoddiad oherwydd yr oedi i wasanaethau sgrinio am ganser, pobl sy'n gohirio gweld eu meddyg teulu oherwydd eu bod ofn COVID-19 neu bobl sy'n pryderu ynglŷn ag ychwanegu at bwysau'r GIG. Oni chaiff hyn sylw'n gyflym, roeddent yn dweud y bydd y canlyniadau i gleifion yng Nghymru yn llai cadarnhaol, fod gan Gymru enw gwael eisoes mewn perthynas â chanlyniadau canser ac y bydd yn cael ei niweidio'n sylweddol yn y blynyddoedd i ddod, ac mai drwy gynllun adfer COVID-19 ar gyfer gwasanaethau canser y bydd Cymru'n gallu deall maint yr her ac yn gallu dwyn ynghyd y dulliau o bob rhan o Gymru. Fel y dywed ein cynnig felly, mae angen cynllun adfer canser ar Gymru, fel y gwelir mewn mannau eraill ledled y DU.