Browse content similar to 01/04/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Good Evening. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
Ten years of free prescriptions for everyone in Wales | 0:00:11 | 0:00:13 | |
is a "long-term investment" in people's health. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
That's according to the Health Secretary Vaughan Gething - | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
who says the policy has kept people out of hospital and cut | 0:00:19 | 0:00:23 | |
overall NHS costs. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:25 | |
But the Conservatives say the cost is still too high, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:28 | |
and those who can afford it should pay for their medicine. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:32 | |
Rebecca John reports. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
Wales became the first of the UK nations to make prescriptions | 0:00:35 | 0:00:37 | |
free a decade ago today. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:41 | |
Northern Ireland and Scotland have since followed suit. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:43 | |
The Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething, says | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
the policy is progressive, reducing hospital attendance | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
and pressure on GPs. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
It's a celebration of our landmark policy that's | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
made a real difference. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:55 | |
People who used to worry about access to prescription | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
medication, the cost of it, but a system that is much fairer. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:03 | |
The old system didn't make sense for lots of people | 0:01:03 | 0:01:05 | |
with chronic conditions. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
The income thresholds are much simpler. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
It's a cleaner system. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:10 | |
And, actually, we think it's cost-effective too. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
The Welsh government says, in 2015, the cost of free | 0:01:13 | 0:01:15 | |
descriptions was ?593 million. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:17 | |
Only ?3 million more than the bill in 2007. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
But the Welsh Conservatives say apart from those with chronic health | 0:01:19 | 0:01:25 | |
conditions higher rate tax should pay for their descriptions. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
Descriptions are a valuable part of the NHS. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:34 | |
But what we should remember is there are huge pressures | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
within the Welsh NHS, and actually, I don't think it's | 0:01:37 | 0:01:39 | |
unreasonable for people who earn 40% tax to pay for their prescriptions | 0:01:39 | 0:01:48 | |
When you can get Paracetamol on the NHS, and they cost 20 or 30p, | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
surely, a small donation to pay for that would release more funds | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
for valuable services in a service under pressure? | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
The Welsh government says introducing a means tested system | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
would take time and money. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
And there's no evidence it would lead to better outcomes. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:05 | |
Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats also | 0:02:05 | 0:02:08 | |
support free prescriptions. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
Today prescription charges in England rose by 20p to ?8.60. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:17 | |
But the Department of Health says due to exemptions, | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
90% of prescriptions in England are also free. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:26 | |
The operation is continuing through the weekend to recover | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
a crashed helicopter in Snowdonia. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
The bodies of five people on board, who were all from the same family, | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
were recovered yesterday. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:36 | |
Poor weather and the terrain of the Rhinog mountains has been | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
hampering the efforts. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:39 | |
Police are keen to hear from anyone who may have seen or heard | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
the helicopter in the Trawsfynydd area on Wednesday afternoon. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:51 | |
A 28-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
following what police have described as a serious assault in Bangor. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
It happened in the early hours of this morning outside the Peep | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
nightclub on Dean Street in the city. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:01 | |
A 26-year-old local man has been arrested and is being question | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
on suspicion of assault. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
Officers are appealing for witnesses. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:07 | |
Drivers are being advised to plan their journeys | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
with the closure of one of the Brynglas Tunnels on the M4 | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
westbound near Newport later this evening. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
Traffic will be diverted until Monday morning. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
It's part of upgrading work and is the first of seven closures | 0:03:19 | 0:03:22 | |
between now and the end of June affecting both of the tunnels. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:30 | |
Let's turn to sport now and in football Cardiff | 0:03:30 | 0:03:32 | |
City were beaten 3 - 1 at Wolves in the Championship. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:35 | |
Newport County gave themselves some hope of avoiding relegation | 0:03:35 | 0:03:39 | |
from League Two with a 1-nil win over Crawley. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
And there was a lunchtime kick-off for Wrexham in the National League. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:46 | |
An early Olly Marx own goal saw them lose 1-nil to promotion-chasing | 0:03:46 | 0:03:48 | |
Tranmere at the Racecourse. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:53 | |
Onto snooker and Mark Williams is through to the final | 0:03:53 | 0:03:56 | |
of the China Open. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:57 | |
The 2-time former World Champion beat Hossein Vafayee 6-1 | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
in their semi-final in Beijing. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:03 | |
Victory in tomorrow's final against Mark Selby will see Williams | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
automatically qualify for the World Championships | 0:04:06 | 0:04:07 | |
at the expense of fellow Welshman Ryan Day. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
Rugby and Cardiff Blues kick-off in just over an hour | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
in their European Challenge Cup quarter final at Gloucester. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
Meanwhile , Ospreys players and staff had a run-out | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
at the Principality Stadium earlier. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
They face Stade Francais in another quarter-final tomorrow. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:25 | |
The match was switched away from the Liberty Stadium due | 0:04:25 | 0:04:28 | |
to Swansea City's Premier League match at home to Middlesbrough | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
which kicks-off tomorrow lunchtime. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:36 | |
Before I go let's take a look at the weather and tonight any | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
showers will ease leading to a dry night. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
It will be a little chillier than recently though with some | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
mist or fog patches too. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
Tomorrow morning any of that early mist or fog will soon clear, | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
leading to plenty of bright and sunny spells and it will feel | 0:04:48 | 0:04:50 | |
warm in the light winds. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
Highs of 14 celsius. Before I go let's take a look | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
We're back around the same time tomorrow, enjoy your evening. | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
From all of us here, goodbye. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:03 |