Wales Lesley Griffiths News

The Local Government Minister Lesley Griffiths has issued a short statement following the news that Independent and Labour councillors have reached a deal to form an administration on Anglesey.

I hope last week's elections will now prove to be a turning point - the people of Anglesey deserve no less. I wish the new leadership of the council well in their task to deliver stable, transparent and accountable local government on the island, in the years ahead.

• Politics
• Lesley Griffiths
• Anglesey

Just before she was moved in the cabinet reshuffle, former Health Minister Lesley Griffiths signed a letter to Assembly Members telling them she could not consider in their present form objections from the local Community Health Council to proposed changes to hospital services in west Wales.

The proposals by the Hywel Dda Health Board are some of the most controversial of the proposed changes across Wales, involving hospital closures and other hospitals losing some of their services. The Health Minister must consider any objections formally raised by the local Community Health Council.

Lesley Griffiths wrote that there was "no clarity" over which of the changes it can support and which it judges should be referred for ministerial determination. She has told the council to hold fresh talks with the Hywel Dda Health Board and resubmit any remaining objections by 5 April.

[They] must work together to ensure safe and sustainable services ... the Community Health Council is obliged to recognise that maintaining the status quo may not be an acceptable response and must work with the local health board to agree how such services can be maintained within available resources.

Local resolution must be sought wherever possible and referral to Welsh ministers should only be made as a last resort. Where particular proposals are judged not to be in the best interest of health services in the area, the CHC must propose alternative solution s for providing safe and sustainable services to their local community.

• Politics
• Lesley Griffiths

As if to answer the question I posed just a few minutes ago, the next announcement reveals that the outgoing health minister Lesley Griffiths has been appointed Local Government minister.

It's not a bad move for Lesley Griffiths who will take on a portfolio with almost as big a challenge involved as the health job did. It's much more than a consolation prize. Her reappointment also means that Carwyn Jones hasn't lost a female minister and one from the north.

The question is now, what happens to her predecessor, the popular Carl Sargeant who was widely seen as doing an effective job in the role?

• Politics
• Lesley Griffiths
• Carl Sargeant

The Health Minister has defended herself from criticism that neonatal services in North Wales are being moved across the border, whilst those in the south are being brought home.

Lesley Griffiths was facing AMs alongside the medical director of the NHS in Wales.

Dr Chris Jones says it is so tough to recruit for some roles, there is a little point in continuing to advertise.

Carole Green reports.

• Health
• Welsh Government
• Lesley Griffiths

In the report published last year, the committee stated they had particular concerns with staffing shortages in neonatal units.

They heard evidence from the neonatal charity Bliss that it was affecting the delivery of care to premature babies.

This shortfall in nurses affects every health board and every unit, and as such the All Wales Neonatal Standards on nurse to baby staffing ratios are far from being met. This critical nursing shortfall is putting babies‘ lives at risk

Assembly members will be asking the Health Minister if the situation has improved and if the ratio of nurses to babies has risen.

• Health
• Welsh Government
• Lesley Griffiths

Assembly Members will be quizzing Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths, about care for premature babies in Wales. Last year the Children and Young People Committee published a critical report, highlighting problems with staff shortages across Wales.

The committee will be asking what progress has been made to improve services.

• Health
• Welsh Government
• Lesley Griffiths

The Welsh Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths, says she would "strongly" oppose a move to reduce the time limit on when a woman can have an abortion.

It comes after comments made by the Health Minister Jeremy Hunt to The Times newspaper, where Mr Hunt said the limit should be cut to 12 weeks into a pregnancy - half the current limit of 24 weeks.

While health is a devolved issue and Mr Hunt hasn't officially submitted the proposals, Lesley Griffiths AM, said: "It is something that I cannot countenance as being in the best interests of woman in Wales."

I've read Jeremy Hunt's remarks about reducing the time limit and this is something that I cannot countenance as being in the best interests of woman in Wales. Should the UK Government make any formal proposals to change the law, I will be strongly opposing such a move.

• Health
• Lesley Griffiths

The suggestion from Plaid Cymru's deputy leader, Elin Jones, that she sits down over a cup of tea with the Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths, to help her to 'provide a clear national plan for the NHS in Wales' has been forcefully rejected by a source close to the minister.

Elin Jones is once again accusing the Health Minister of lying. This is unacceptable and completely untrue. There can be no sensible or meaningful dialogue on this issue whilst Plaid Cymru continue to peddle this deceitful nonsense and while there remain serious divisions within their party over health policy.

Elin Jones had claimed that talking to Lesley Griffiths would be difficult while 'she continues to deny knowledge or responsibility of the NHS reconfiguration plans'.

• Politics
• Labour
• Lesley Griffiths