SENEDD Members have questioned the Welsh Government over a new £8 million obesity strategy, tightening restrictions on youth vaping, and regional inequalities in cancer screening.
Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health, Nerys Evans, confirmed Public Health Wales has secured the funding through the obesity pathway innovation programme.
The funding will be used to develop new NHS treatment models for obesity, viewing it as a chronic condition rather than a short-term issue.
The announcement on Tuesday July 14 followed a speech to the Senedd, where Ms Evans outlined her preventative healthcare priorities and drew on the words of Aneurin Bevan: “The victories won by preventive medicine are much the most important for mankind.”
Emphasising the importance of prevention in healthcare, Ms Evans said: “The need to make this change is not new. What has been missing is the determination to deliver it.
“For too long, our models, processes and ways of working have been built around responding to crises, rather than preventing them and helping people to live healthier and happier lives.
“This changes now. Under this government, success will be measured not by the number of hospital admissions, but by the number of people who stay healthy enough to avoid hospital altogether.”
Ms Evans told Senedd colleagues that providing healthy environments, better access to sustainable and nutritious food, and addressing vaping amongst young people were among her top priorities as minister.
Concluding her speech she said: “We firmly believe that building a healthier population is not only a moral imperative, particularly in tackling deep-rooted inequalities, but is also fundamental to improving the wider prosperity and resilience of our nation.”
Facing questions from the opposition benches, Ms Evans took questions on funding for weight loss jabs, screening and vaccinations, and vaping and smoking.
Reform’s James Evans pressed the deputy minister on the longer term impacts of weight loss medication.
He said: “I think one thing we have to be careful with, with weight-loss medication, is that, yes, it is changing lives, but it’s not changing lifestyles.
“It cannot be seen as a silver bullet to losing weight long term, because we do know about the longer term health impacts, with osteoporosis in women, with people with cardiovascular problems emerging from these jabs”.
Mr Evans asked his opposite number if she will be working with primary care, gyms, and leisure providers to ensure people on weight loss medication are also making lifestyle changes.
“If you don’t, it’s just a vicious circle,” Mr Evans explained. “You’ll come off it, you’ll put weight back on again, and you’re back on the jabs and then end up in A&E with longer term problems, and that’s no way to help our health service.”
The deputy minister agreed, adding that it is about “creating that system of support around individuals for those lifestyle choices”.
Ms Evans revealed Public Health Wales has recently been successful in co-ordinating a Wales-wide bid for funding through the obesity pathway innovation programme.
She said: “That’s £8 million of funding in order to look at these issues, to develop and test approaches that could form part of that delivery model going forward.
“We want to be looking at treating obesity as a chronic condition, and, obviously, the changes that would mean in terms of how the NHS would respond to that would be key.”
Drawing attention to the national lung cancer screening programme that was introduced by Welsh Labour, Jayne Bryant quizzed Ms Evans on her plans to encourage participation in screenings and vaccination programmes.
Ms Bryant – who is Labour’s spokesperson for public and preventative health – also acknowledged the HPV vaccine, noting that since its introduction in 2008 the vaccine has “reduced cervical cancer rates by almost 90% in women in their 20s”.
She also highlighted the importance of cervical screenings, but said work needs to be done to make them more accessible Wales-wide.
The Labour spokesperson called for Ms Evans to share how the Welsh Government will encourage participation in vaccines and screenings.
The deputy minister said: “One of the things that worries me is the differences within our deprived communities in terms of screening and vaccine uptake.”
She spoke of making sure Public Health Wales, in its efforts to boost screening and vaccinations, understands what the barriers are to uptake.
Ms Evans also faced questions on her plans for preventing smoking and vaping among children and young people by Conservative MS Natasha Asghar.
Ms Asghar, of Casnewydd Islwyn, told the Siambr that Wales sees almost 4,000 preventable deaths each year because of smoking.
She acknowledged the deputy minister has already launched a consultation on vaping as part of the four-nation approach to prevent children from smoking, but called for clarity on what other actions will be taken.
Ms Evans said that tackling the increasing number of children vaping is a “key priority” for her as minister.
She urged the public to take part in a consultation into vaping, which is looking at changing vape product packaging to be more like tobacco packaging – and less attractive to young people.
Ms Evans also confirmed she has asked officials to provide an outline of what other powers the Welsh Government has to tackle tobacco and vaping.
