10/01/2017 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Our top stories:

A new treatment fund to get new drugs to patients more quickly.

Welcome news for people who've suffered delays

in getting the medication they need.

And the sailor from Bangor in contention to win

one of the toughest sporting event in the world -

sailing single-handed around the globe.

"than any other part of the UK" to new medicines more quickly

following the launch of a new treatment fund.

That's according to the Health Secretary,

who's announced an extra ?16 million a year to help patients in Wales

access new medicines within two months

of them being approved as cost-effective.

It follows concerns that health boards have been too slow

Even though he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis

20 years ago, Simon from Llantrisant

has always tried to live life to the full.

But those experiences are now just memories.

It is a struggle to get showered, to get washed

But he thinks a drug called Sativex, completely wipes you out.

which helps ease muscle spasms, could help him.

It was recommended for use in the Welsh NHS

two and a half years ago, but Simon blames a row

about who pays for it means

his doctor has not been able to prescribe it.

I've actually been off work for the last six weeks

and the thought that this drug could possibly help me

with the spasms to the point where it would enable me to get

Hundreds of new drugs and treatments are developed every year but the NHS

can't afford to pay for them all, so it's the responsibility

of two expert organisations to assess the benefits and the cost.

They are called the National Institute for Health and Care

Excellence, NICE, and the All Wales Medicines Strategy group.

If they say no, you either have to be a special case for treatment

But if they decide treatment is cost-effective,

it should be on the NHS as a matter of course.

But that doesn't always happen straightaway.

The Welsh government will give the NHS an extra ?60 million a year

to start delivering new medicines within two months while health

boards plan how to pay for them over the longer term.

If you have a really high cost new medicine

which is effective and approved, you can then have a timeline

with different health boards being able to deliver that medicine

This will mean that there will be a consistent

He also says the system here can be used to treat all conditions

and will be fairer than in England and Scotland, where drugs funds

are in place but for specific conditions like cancer

But patients hoping this fund will play for unapproved drugs

that could help them will be disappointed.

The pace at which new medicines are developed is phenomenal.

The problem is that the NHS at times has struggled to keep up.

The UK Government narrowly avoided defeat tonight in the House of Lords

over its plans to re-write the devolution settlement

after a vote was tied on a Labour amendment to the Wales Bill.

The amendment would have allowed the Welsh Government

to scrap parts of the controversial Trade Union Act in Wales.

The Wales Bill is due to be approved by Assembly Members next Tuesday.

More than 20 industrial companies have urged the UK Government to go

ahead with the planned ?1.3 billion Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.

In a letter to the Financial Times, they say it could start

a "new era" in British manufacturing.

The lagoon has been given planning consent

but has been delayed until the publication

of the independent Hendry Review into the viability

of tidal lagoon power, due on Thursday.

Cardiff Airport could have a new replacement terminal

The plan was announced after a 16% rise in passenger numbers

bringing the total to over 1.3 million travellers.

The Welsh Government bought the airport four years ago

We have invested heavily, we have significantly improved

the experience and the facilities here, but there is a limit

to what we can do so we have got long-term, ambitious plans

for the business, and really to enable us to get

to where we want to be, a new replacement terminal will be

The woman who spearheaded a campaign plan as we go forward.

to open the first children's hospice in Wales has died at the age of 95.

Suzanne Goodall founded Ty Hafan in the Vale of Glamorgan

18 years ago - since when the centre has supported

hundreds of families with life-limited children.

She's in the fabric of the building, in everything we do.

This really will be her legacy, that she has supported paediatric

palliative care and brought it forward so much in Wales.

Suzanne Goodall, who's died at the age of 95.

It's one of the toughest sporting events in the world -

sailing around the globe, non-stop, single handed.

Alex Thomson from Bangor is doing just that

and is in contention to win the prestigious Vendee Globe.

Tonight, after 65 days alone on the ocean,

he's in second place, chasing down the leader.

More people have been in outer space and up Mount Everest

And in the vast oceans, a Welshman is hoping to make history -

to become the first outside France to win the Vendee Globe.

You certainly feel isolated when you're down here.

There's nobody to rescue you, nobody to help you,

The only things around you are birds and albatrosses.

29 boats set off from the north-west of France on November 6th.

Indian and Pacific oceans, 28,000 miles across the Atlantic,

before getting back to the Atlantic and returning to France.

Whilst in the lead, he hit something and the boat was badly damaged.

Alex thought he would limp home in tenth

but he has clawed his way back, 100 miles behind the race leader

with less than 3,000 miles to the finish line.

Alex Thomson's boat is built for speed, not for comfort.

He doesn't have a toilet, no kitchen either,

It looks like something you might give your baby.

Alex needs to eat up to 7,000 calories a day.

He sleeps no more than 20 minutes at a time.

The reason, when he's sleeping, the boat goes more slowly.

It's nine weeks since Alex last saw his wife and two young children

# Crashing through the waves, in a 16 mono hull.

There have been other high points too.

This was captured by one of Alex's rivals off Cape Town.

Alex Thomson says it has been like a war on the waters at times,

He's completed 90% of the race and this week we'll see

whether a sailor from Bangor can overcome the odds

and win the hardest sailing race of them all.

Closer to home, there's talk of snow on the way.

It is a wintry entered a week. They will turn colder and very windy with

a measure of rain, sleet and snow at times. Overnight, some dry spells

with the odd spot of patchy rain. Not too cold at between 6-8 C.

Pressure starts to rise tomorrow but the wind becomes more

north-westerly. These isobars moved close together, signalling stronger,

cold winds. Tomorrow, early shower should clear. Becoming dry, bright

and blustery foremost. Across the UK, dry with bright spells for and

rails and England but brisk north-westerly winds bringing wintry

showers across high ground in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Already in the cold air, five Celsius in Scotland, milder in the

south of England at 11 Celsius. A drier into the day across Wales.

Burning the winds could reach gale force when the coast. -- a warning

that. The pressure chart shows

this frontal wave coming in from the south-west on Thursday,

falling mainly as rain, but where it meets the cold air,

snow is possible although there's huge uncertainty about

the position of this system. Don't take the graphics literally -

some brighter spells, but the likelihood of showers

for some, where that front a Met Office warning that any

showers could bring a wintry mix It could be further north or south -

it's very hard to pinpoint - And it will stay that way into the

weekend. That's Wales Today.

Thank you for watching. From all of us on the

programme, goodnight.