2. What is the Welsh Government doing to improve support for people with diabetes in Blaenau Gwent? OQ59762

I made an oral statement to the Senedd on 13 June, describing our approach to improving diabetes services, as set out in the quality statement for diabetes. My officials discussed the implications of the quality statement for local delivery with NHS chief executives on 21 June.

I very much welcome that. I welcome the statement that you made on diabetes treatment in Wales. There are 5,400 people in Blaenau Gwent who are living with diabetes, and that's not much less than 10 per cent of the population. It's an epidemic in the borough. And that requires, I think, Minister, a significant Intervention from Government.

I welcome the statement made by the Minister yesterday on our relationship with food, if you like, in its wider sense. But we do need a more holistic approach to ensure that we have prevention of diabetes rather than simply the treatment of diabetes. I'm glad the Deputy Minister for sport is in the Chamber this afternoon, because that also involves investment in physical activity, investment in sports opportunities, as well as other sorts of physical activity, and it involves an investment across the whole of Government to deal with diabetes, rather than simply treating the impact of diabetes. I hope, Minister, you'll be able to put a focus on that in somewhere like Blaenau Gwent, and I'd like to invite you to the borough so that we can debate and discuss how we can help people avoid diabetes in Blaenau Gwent.

Thanks very much, Alun. What you know is we've got this quality statement, so people know what 'good' looks like, so they should be working to that. And now we have the NHS exec holding health boards to account for delivering on what 'good' looks like. What I think we have got to do is to recognise that the problem is more acute in some areas than others. I know that the Minister responsible for the public health aspect of this is absolutely clear that, actually, you do need to target some areas more than others. The same thing everywhere is not what we're looking for here; you do have to put those additional resources in some places. What we've got is, for example, a pre-diabetes prevention programme, to help people avoid getting type 2 diabetes. Let's not forget that a huge, huge proportion of type 2 diabetes is avoidable, and, actually, if you can catch it before it really becomes full-blown diabetes, then you're really saving a lot of health issues for that member of the public, but also you're saving a lot of resources for the NHS.

On that early Intervention, we've got pilots across Wales, including one in Aneurin Bevan. It's important that we look at the outcomes of that pilot. We know they work; we've put £1 million into rolling out what we know has worked in Port Talbot, for example. We need to now make sure that people understand their responsibilities as well. It's not a one-way street, this; we've got to be there, holding their hands through what is a very difficult journey for them. We've got to make sure that the environment is right, and that was part of what the Deputy Minister was speaking about yesterday. But we cannot continue with a situation where the trajectory—. If we carry on as we are now, we won't be spending 10 per cent of our budget on diabetes, we'll be spending 17 per cent of our budget. We don't have any more money, so it's got to come from somewhere. So, this is not sustainable in its current form. Something has to change. But the people of Wales have to come with us on this journey. We can't do it all for them, but we will be there with them on the journey.

Minister, it's no secret that Wales has the highest prevalence of diabetes in the UK, with more than 200,000 people living with the condition. There are a whole host of organisations and initiatives out there, which I know you work with as well, helping people with diabetes, and pushing to improve care and support. However, there are some serious concerns about the lack of funding on several programmes—whilst I appreciate the answer that you just gave—something the Welsh Government did say would be addressed in the quality statement last week. From the feedback that I received, it wasn't discussed in as much detail as was perhaps needed. Services such as the all-Wales diabetes remission service, as well as the SEREN programme, which I know my colleague Joel James has raised before in the Chamber, are at serious risk, going forward. It's not clear whether these services, which are delivering life-changing results, will indeed continue to receive funding. Dedicated NHS clinicians are behind these schemes and have been left in limbo as they have no idea about future funding. Earlier today, the British Medical Association held an event, which I, alongside many colleagues in this Chamber, did attend. I met some of the fantastic GPs there, including Gareth and Natasha, who are both from south-east Wales, and they wanted answers. So, Minister, my question is, can you please give them some much-needed clarity this afternoon about what's the case, going forward? Thank you.

Thanks very much. We have got a ring-fenced amount of money for the pre-diabetes programme I was talking about. We've got £1 million for that programme, and that's being rolled out. Every health board in Wales really understands this. The secret is to get ahead of the problem; that's the real issue here—we've got to get ahead of the problem, not wait for the problem to develop. When you've got 60 per cent of your population who are overweight, you've got to target that lot there, because they're the next generation of people who are going to have diabetes type 2. That's what part of yesterday was about—it's about acknowledging that we can't go on like this, that, actually, you do need to intervene, we do need to create the right environment for them.

And just in terms of finance, the financial situation is really, really challenging at the moment. It's challenging for everyone; it's challenging for people in our communities—the cost-of-living crisis is really difficult—but it's also difficult for the NHS. All of the inflationary pressures that everybody else is feeling, the NHS is feeling. We haven't had additional money to cover it, and we've got the COVID costs and everything else that's going on. So, the pressures are real, but that's why, actually, it makes sense for us to go as far as we can in the prevention space, because if we don't, the costs going forward are going to be very, very difficult.