7. What action is the Welsh Government taking to enhance NHS services in Islwyn? OQ60633

Llywydd, we constantly look to improve services for the Member's constituency, as demonstrated last week, when Aneurin Bevan University Health Board opened a new £19 million health and well-being centre. Islwyn residents will also benefit from a £14 million investment in the emergency department at the Grange University Hospital, as well as a new breast care unit opening next month.

Thank you, First Minister. The Welsh Government's and indeed this Senedd Cymru Welsh Parliament's ability to deliver and oversee vital public services is predicated on the finances it receives from the UK Tory Government in Westminster. The Welsh health Minister has informed the Senedd that the Welsh Government has escalated intervention at the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. This is welcome oversight in an incredibly challenging environment. I also welcome the news of the announcement, as the First Minister said, that Welsh Government has made an additional £14 million available to expand and reconfigure parts of the Grange University Hospital. The Grange has been an important new facility for the people of Gwent as healthcare demands have soared, and it is vital that the Grange improves, as it has become a key centre of healthcare in Gwent. First Minister, what principles and actions guide the Welsh Government in protecting and enhancing the national health service in Gwent, whilst public services have been so roughly damaged by the UK Tory Government now entering its final death spiral?

Before I ask the First Minister to answer, can I just check that the First Minister has understood the question, because the broadband connection wasn't sufficiently good? If you've understood the question, you can answer. But if I can just say to Rhianon Passmore, if you are to take part later on in the session at all, you will need to improve the broadband connection you're currently working on. First Minister.

Llywydd, can I thank other Members for the relative silence in which the question was put? It wasn't easy to follow, but I think I was able to understand the key gist of what Rhianon Passmore said.

She asked me at the end what principles guide the Welsh Government's actions in relation to the health service and, well, those are our continuing commitment to the founding principles of the health service. The new centre that I mentioned in my answer, the £19 million health and well-being centre, was in Tredegar, of course, and no more fitting place to demonstrate investment in a twenty-first century health service than in the place where the health service itself was born. So, we continue to be committed to a service that is comprehensive, universal, free at the point of use, and where access is based not on the amount of money you have in your pocket or the influence that you are able to bear, but on your clinical need. That's what guides the investments that are made by the Welsh Government.

I agree with the point that the Member made about the need for improvement at the Grange University Hospital in its emergency department, given the part it now plays in that ecology of health services in the Gwent area, but that's why the Minister has provided that additional investment. It will more than double the capacity at that emergency department and make sure that it goes on providing the service on which Rhianon Passmore's constituents rely.

Finally, question 8. Jack Sargeant.