Mid and West AM Simon Thomas has described the go ahead for the Ward 10 project at Withybush Hospital as a victory for Pembrokeshire’s young health campaigner Elly Neville.

The Plaid Cymru AM had called on the Welsh Government for a decision to be made promptly in February during Business Questions in the Senedd chamber.

Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Climate Change and Rural Affairs Simon Thomas AM said:

“I’m pleased to hear the news that the business plan for the Ward 10 project in Withybush Hospital has been approved so that the refurbishment can go ahead.

“This is a victory for health campaigner schoolgirl Elly Neville who is just 8 years old. “She has raised over £150,000 for the ward.

“A few years ago I met Elly of Pembroke. Elly had won a competition to design a collage Pembrokeshire flag at Pembroke Dock community school as part of St David’s Day celebrations.

“Elly and her family then used the flag around Pembrokeshire to raise funds for the refurbishment and upgrade of Ward 10 at Withybush Hospital to make it once again a dedicated cancer ward.

“Her father, Lyn, had been a chemotherapy patient at Ward 10 himself after a bone marrow transplant.

“It was the dedicated staff and facilities of Ward 10 that provided care, support and lifesaving treatment during his recovery.

“Let us hope this is the spark that can improve health services for us in the west and for cancer patients. Plaid Cymru believes a wider range of measures should be introduced by the Labour Government in Wales to improve cancer survival rates.

“These measures would include adopting the recommendation of the independent cancer task force to introduce a 28 day target for diagnostic tests so we could identify cancers at an earlier stage, as well as ensuring molecular diagnostic testing is given to all cancer patients to enable targeted treatments,” he added.