LAST week, the Welsh Government's cabinet secretary for health, announced a ground breaking new treatment fund for Wales.

A total of £80 million has been made available by the Welsh government, to speed up access to the very latest medicines recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG).

These medicines are for treating a wide range of life threatening and life debilitating diseases including cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, heart disease and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Under the new treatment fund, all health boards in Wales will be required to make a NICE or AWMSG recommended medicine available no later than two months from the date the final guidance is published, shortening the maximum amount of time before which a health board must make a treatment available by a third.

For NICE recommendations, the Welsh government has gone even further and health boards will now be expected to introduce recommended medicines at the first publication of the final guidance, rather than waiting for the final Technology Appraisal guidance published after the appeal period.

The cabinet secretary for health Vaughan Gething AM said: “New medicines and treatments are being discovered, developed and tested on an almost weekly basis, offering the hope of a cure or a better quality of life for people with a range of life-threatening illnesses…We expect all patients, for whom access to a new recommended medicine is appropriate, to be able to access the treatment as quickly as possible and within two months.

"I am delighted that we’ve been able to bring forward this fund.

"It will make a huge difference, ensuring NHS Wales is in the best possible position to provide the latest approved drugs.”

The treatment fund was one of Welsh Labour’s key pledges at last year’s election and I am delighted that the Welsh government has moved quickly to implement this extremely important pledge.

The treatment fund will enable patients in the Vale of Glamorgan to access new medicines that support people with life-threatening and life debilitating conditions.