Cancer patients in north Wales have been forced to travel to England for urgent mental health support due to a shortage of specialist beds in the region, an MS has claimed.

Dwyfor Meirionnydd MS Mabon ap Gwynfor raised the matter in the Senedd on 27 January.

He urged Welsh Government to prioritise mental health staffing, resources, and capital investment in the north to ensure parity with other regions.

Mr ap Gwynfor MS said: “I have cases coming into my office where people suffering from mental health conditions have to be placed in beds over the border, a long way away from their homes, somewhere in England. I'll give you one example where a man has come in, and he's discovered that he has cancer. As a result of that, his mental health deteriorated significantly to the point where the health board had to place him for a few nights' care, and he'd had to go to Birmingham.

“This gentleman is a first-language Welsh speaker. All his family are first-language Welsh speakers. He is more comfortable communicating through the medium of Welsh, but he can't get the necessary service because he'd been placed in Birmingham, because of the shortage of beds in north Wales, and in Wales generally.”

He added: “It is deeply troubling that cancer patients - already facing immense physical and emotional pressure - are being sent miles away from their homes and families simply because no suitable mental health beds are available in North Wales.

“When cancer patients are being sent across the border because our health system cannot provide the mental health support they need, it is a clear signal that long promised improvements have not materialised. This cannot continue - we need urgent, targeted investment to ensure specialist services are available close to home.”