SOME NEWS I'm leaving BBC Radio Wales. Please read why ⏬️ And thank you 🙏🏼 all of you who answered the funny questions I asked every week about old memories and daft stories. I loved them. You made me laugh so much 😃🤍 But now...onwards to the next very interesting chapter 😉

The Michelle Mone story in full

It's almost four weeks since the horrific terrorist attack on #Israel. A lot has happened, the public debate has become heated and confused. Find thoughts from Vice-Chancellor Robert #Habeck in the video, putting the events in context. 📣With English, Hebrew and Arabic subtitles.

We have finally received a response from the Department of Health on the three closed Rutherford cancer centres following the successful petition. Worryingly, the person writing it clearly has no grasp on clinical or practical oncology. It’s laced with inaccuracies. If this is the quality from the Department responsible for overseeing NHS activity, it's extremely concerning. We’re told that acquiring three advanced cancer centres would ‘not help with delays’ - this is a lie. Across the network, 20,000 cancer patients could access some of the very best diagnostic/treatment technology in the entire world - how can that not help delays? There is only excess capacity at existing proton beam NHS sites because it’s so severely rationed, leaving us far behind international standards. We currently only have the capacity to treat less than 1% of radiotherapy using protons - other European countries can do 10%. Protons also only made up a small proportion of what Rutherford offered - there is radiotherapy, chemotherapy, diagnostic capability and more. Some of the unused equipment: IBA Proteus One Proton Therapy Machines Elekta Versa HD Linear Accelerators Philips MRI scanners Philips CT scanners Chemotherapy suites They then go on to say that the centres do not meet the ‘higher specifications’ used on NHS sites and list criteria that Rutherford apparently does not meet: 'There is a permanent senior clinical presence overseeing the service' Of course we had senior clinicians overseeing treatment - so this is false. 'All personnel including consultants are fully trained and accredited' All personnel, including consultants, were fully trained and accredited by one of the largest proton centres in the US - University of Pennsylvania. So this is false. 'Proton beam therapy is integrated into a major cancer centre, on a hospital site - particularly important in the context of treating paediatric patients, who require a daily general anaesthetic, and complex patients (both paediatric and adult)' Major cancer centres do not have to be on a general hospital site - many NHS facilities are not. In addition, the Newport centre worked with paediatric patients - so this is false. 'Proton beam therapy should be closely aligned with a university or academic centre, essential for participation in research trials' We had the largest national network, including three active proton machines, which participated in trials and worked closely with local universities - so this is false. 'The emitting head of the ex-Rutherford systems cannot revolve a full 360 degrees' This is total nonsense. That is entirely unnecessary, Spain has just ordered eleven of exactly the same machines that were used on Rutherford sites - so this is false. All three centres had NHS contracts with local trusts. So if any of this contained any truth, how could those agreements be allowed? They allude to ‘advanced discussions’ about a potential new operator. I am reliably informed that this is going nowhere. The network closed in June 2022 and we are no nearer to any tangible process. Equitix, a fund manager and the decision maker on the sites, has let down thousands of cancer patients by refusing to act with the urgency required. Again and again I have tried to engage, but have been rebuffed each and every time. In my professional opinion, there is no good reason why the sites cannot be utilised to treat thousands of NHS patients every year to help clear the lockdown-induced backlog. Either the Department of Health and the NHS are displaying breathtaking incompetence, or they are lying about the viability of using the Rutherford centres. Both are equally depressing. The worst cancer crisis of my lifetime, with thousands suffering excruciating delays, and our incompetent medical establishment cannot get its act together in order to utilise three empty advanced facilities. How on earth is this justifiable? It's a national scandal. petition.parliament.uk/petit…