8. Will the Minister make a statement on physiotherapy services in Wales? OAQ(4)0418(HSS)
Janet Finch-Saunders; Thank you, Minister. My question is actually in relation to people with ankylosing spondylitis. You will be aware that it can take up to eight and a half years to diagnose this. What is your Government planning to do to improve access to physiotherapy for people with ankylosing spondylitis, because their society has highlighted that 70% of people with AS are not accessing physiotherapy?
Mark Drakeford; I thank the Member for her question. I was very pleased to speak at the event here in the Assembly when the society launched its new presence here in Wales. She is absolutely right to say, as it said then, that the real problem for sufferers of this condition is that it is very often masked by other conditions. It takes a long time to identify. Raising awareness, which is what it puts emphasis on, is the most important thing among the clinical community. Indeed, clinicians from north Wales are at the forefront of making sure that that happens. Once people know that they have the condition, access to physiotherapy follows in a reasonably timely fashion, but I am sure that there is more that we can do to improve that too.