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83-738: NHS Wales ( Welsh : GIG Cymru ) is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Wales , and one of the four systems which make up the National Health Service ( Welsh : Gwasanaeth Iechyd Gwladol ) in the United Kingdom . NHS Wales was formed as part of the public health system for England and Wales created by the National Health Service Act 1946 , with powers over the NHS in Wales coming under

166-507: A "burdensome" prior approval process, where a funding agreement is needed before each stage of treatment. At the end of 2014–15 the trust was owed more than £2.3m for treating patients from outside England. A survey by the Health Service Journal suggested there was £21m of outstanding debt relating to patients from the devolved nations treated in the last three years, against total invoicing of £315m by English NHS trusts . In 2014

249-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under

332-586: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified

415-647: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had

498-602: A cross-party commission on the future of the NHS in Wales. Drakeford said: "Discussions about the long-term future of the Welsh NHS should sit outside the knockabout of day-to-day party politics." In March 2015 both Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives rejected the proposal because the terms of reference for the commission had already been set out. Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )

581-536: A day every day of the year with callers being given the option of communicating in Welsh or English. NHS Direct Wales is part of the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust. There are seven community health councils in Wales that monitor the quality of the NHS services provided within the seven Health Board areas and provide information about available services to the public. The Welsh government introduced

664-532: A national robotics assisted surgery strategy in March 2022 with additional funding provided by local health boards over 10 years. NHS Wales provides public health care in Wales and directly employs 94,325 staff, making it Wales's biggest employer. In April 2018 there were 1,926 general practitioners working in Wales, 83 fewer than in 2017. Most staff working for NHS Wales, including non-clinical staff and GPs (most of whom are independent contractors), are eligible to join

747-433: A problem appears serious enough then an ambulance will be sent. Callers can stay anonymous if they wish. The NHS Direct Wales website provides a gateway to a number of resources in English, Welsh and other languages including a health encyclopaedia and the locations of GP surgeries, dentists, pharmacists, opticians, and other services. The website does not provide an online diagnosis for current symptoms, but you can use

830-505: A reorganisation of NHS Wales that saw the abolition of the 22 local health boards (LHBs) and seven NHS trusts that had existed since 2003. Since the reorganisation health boards have been responsible for delivering all NHS services, replacing the two-tiered trust and LHB system. In April 2019 responsibility for health services in Bridgend County Borough was transferred from the former Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board to

913-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into

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996-513: A survey by Ipsos and the Health Foundation found just 19% of the Welsh public were confident about their devolved government plans for the NHS. It was reported that there had been 10,395 recorded staff complaints about staffing levels between 2012 and 2015. The highest number of complaints (3,609) related to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board . The government response was that since 1999,

1079-463: A whole only 60% said they were satisfied with the NHS. In October 2014 the Daily Mail claimed that "Around half of Welsh cancer sufferers must wait six weeks or more for many scans and tests yet in England ... The comparable figure is less than 6%." The Welsh Government responded by pointing out that targets for timely treatment of cancer were the same in Wales as in England, for example that 98% not on

1162-853: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave

1245-570: Is a network of community hospitals run by GPs . Specialist hospitals provide services such as burns units and plastic and cardiac surgery. NHS Wales also funds GP services, dental services, pharmacies, and sexual health services. Community services are also provided, including district nurses , health visitors, midwives, community-based speech therapists , physiotherapists and occupational therapists . NHS Wales provides services through seven health boards and three NHS trusts . The seven local health boards (LHBs) in Wales are shown below. Each LHB

1328-564: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. NHS Direct Wales It does not replace any of

1411-667: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to

1494-616: Is responsible for delivering all NHS healthcare services within a geographical area, divided into a number of Network Clusters. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Hywel Dda University Health Board Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board Powys Teaching Health Board Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Swansea Bay University Health Board Aneurin Bevan University Health Board The three NHS trusts, called "all-Wales trusts", are: The current health boards were created on 1 October 2009 following

1577-505: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain

1660-704: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows

1743-494: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in

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1826-461: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in

1909-525: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol

1992-472: The NHS Pension Scheme , which, from 1 April 2015, is a career salary-average defined benefit scheme . The Welsh Health Minister Mark Drakeford decided that from September 2014 NHS Wales staff would be paid at least the living wage, resulting in about 2,400 employees receiving an increase in salary of up to £470 above UK wide Agenda for Change rates. The pay deal for NHS staff in Wales for 2018–2021

2075-664: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in England. In February 2016 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published a review which concluded that performance of the NHS in Wales was little different from that in the rest of the UK. They described performance across the UK as "fairly mediocre" saying that great policies were not being translated into great practices. They suggested that GPs should be more involved in health boards and that resources should be shifted out of hospitals. In November 2022

2158-675: The Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation produced a report comparing the performance of the NHS in the four countries of the UK since devolution in 1999. They included data for the North East of England as an area more similar to the devolved areas than the rest of England. They found that there was little evidence that any one country was moving ahead of the others consistently across the available indicators of performance. There had been improvements in all four countries in life expectancy and in rates of mortality amenable to health care. Despite

2241-727: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and

2324-683: The Secretary of State for Wales in 1969. That year, the latter took over much of the responsibility for health services in Wales, being supported in this by the Welsh Office, which had been established in 1964. Following the pre-legislative Welsh devolution referendum of 18 September 1997 , Royal Assent was given on 31 July to the Government of Wales Act 1998 . This created the National Assembly for Wales , to which overall responsibility for NHS Wales

2407-618: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has

2490-525: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for

2573-589: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in

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2656-522: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,

2739-481: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for

2822-539: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published

2905-647: The NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS) that was established in April 2010. Health Technology Wales (HTW), established in November 2017, is responsible for the identification, appraisal and adoption of non-medicine technologies in Welsh health and care settings. HTW is hosted within the Velindre University NHS Trust. NHS Direct Wales /Galw Iechyd Cymru provides a non-emergency telephone health advice and information service. It operates 24 hours

2988-552: The NHS in Wales point out that it operates on £1,900 per person compared with the North East of England, which is similar to Wales in terms of "need" and gets £2,100 per person. While some waiting lists, such as for orthopaedic surgery, may be longer in Wales, some other aspects of the service, such as cancer care, are better in Wales. English figures are not collected and reported on the same basis as Welsh ones. 90% patients who used Welsh hospitals and GPs in 2013 were satisfied or very satisfied with their care. In contrast across Britain as

3071-493: The Welsh Government whose primary role is to organise and fund tertiary care and other highly specialist services. It also provides advice and guidance about specialist services to other parts of NHS Wales. Health Education and Improvement Wales is a Special Health Authority that provides education and training services for health care professionals. The NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) supports NHS Wales through

3154-489: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,

3237-614: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither

3320-505: The Welsh border were under "absolutely intolerable pressure" and that people were fleeing the "second class health service" in Wales. Entitlement to free prescription charges is based on the GP with whom a patient is registered, so some patients who live in England benefit from them. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust complained in June 2015 that commissioners outside England use

3403-641: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of

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3486-515: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer

3569-481: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to

3652-606: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of

3735-408: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of

3818-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within

3901-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of

3984-470: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over

4067-493: The existing emergency or non-emergency medical services but complements those already existing and enables callers who might not be fully able to diagnose themselves to be directed to care of an appropriate level of urgency, including transport to hospital if the diagnosis merits that action. This service was originally provided as part of NHS Direct covering both England and Wales until it was transferred to Welsh control in June 2001. On 1 April 2007 management of NHS Direct Wales

4150-562: The financial burden of their insurance premiums. The cost, £11.3 million, was to be deducted from the global sum, thus reducing GP practice income. This was not welcomed by the British Medical Association , which complained that indemnity costs for all other staff were borne centrally. A similar scheme in England was centrally funded. Another important organisation is the Health Commission Wales, an executive agency of

4233-485: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of

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4316-401: The former Cwm Taf University Health Board, leading to changes in names and boundaries for both health boards. Five of the health boards paid for spot contracts with private healthcare providers costing a total of more than £6 million between 2013 and 2015 to carry out NHS work on elective surgery. In 2019 the Welsh government decided to introduce an NHS indemnity scheme for GPs, to reduce

4399-607: The helplines on behalf of Public Health dealing with issues such as the cryptosporidia outbreak in North Wales, HPV, smoking etc. The textphone service is on 0845 606 4647. Access via RNID Typetalk is on 18001 0845 4647. Callers receive a recorded announcement describing the services available and when appropriate will be transferred to a call handler with an option for Welsh language who will take their details and pass them on to another person with relevant skills or will arrange for them to be called back within three hours. If

4482-525: The highest level since records began in the first three months of 2018. A survey of attitudes to the NHS in 2014 concluded that the Welsh held the NHS dear to their hearts, though almost two-thirds of respondents felt the performance of the Welsh NHS had declined in recent years. The survey found a wide range of problems caused by a lack of resources. Staff complained that Whistleblowers risked professional suicide and some patients said complaints or concerns were not taken seriously by NHS managers Defenders of

4565-411: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval

4648-469: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to

4731-451: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period

4814-528: The hotly contested policy differences between the four countries there was little evidence, where there was comparable data, of any significant differences in outcomes. The authors also complained about the increasingly limited set of comparable data on the four health systems of the UK. Rising social costs have led to a significant increase in the time between patients being declared "medically fit" and finding social care placements in many cases. NHS Wales has not met targets for A&E. Figures for December show

4897-587: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for

4980-496: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to

5063-546: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c.  600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )

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5146-468: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in

5229-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,

5312-402: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to

5395-412: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,

5478-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase

5561-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over

5644-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by

5727-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in

5810-405: The provision of a range of support functions and services at an NHS Wales wide scale. It is hosted within Velindre University NHS Trust, as well as being governed by the Shared Services Partnership Committee. Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW), established in April 2021 is a Special Health Authority responsible for building and designing digital services for health and care in Wales. DHCW replaces

5893-409: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of

5976-627: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in

6059-499: The target time. It defending the decision not to set up a Cancer Drugs Fund as in England, on the ground that the fund's own chair has admitted it provides funding for cancer drugs which have 'no impact on survival' and 'uncertainty as to whether quality of life is improved or not' and pointed out that the All-Wales Medicines Strategy Group got new drugs such as Sativex approved for use in Wales more quickly than

6142-499: The total number of staff working in the Welsh NHS had increased by a third. In 2015, there were 2,000 GPs working in the NHS in Wales, the highest number ever and an increase of 11% since 2003. The number of nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff increased from 28,157 in 2010 to 28,300 in 2014. In February 2015 Mark Drakeford wrote to the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams proposing

6225-463: The urgent pathway should start definitive treatment within the target time of 31 days. On the latest figures the performance in Wales was actually slightly better than in England. Wales has a specific waiting time target for diagnostic tests, different from England – the maximum wait for access to specified diagnostic tests is 8 weeks. In August 2014 24,107 patients were waiting more than 8 weeks for diagnostic tests in Wales; 70% receive their tests within

6308-518: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from

6391-567: The worst A&E performance since March 2016 but attendance was 5.4% higher than in 2017. 78.9% of patients were admitted transferred or discharged after spending less than four hours in emergency care facilities, the target is 95%. This is 1.5% lower than in December 2016. 70% of "red" ambulance calls came within eight minutes (there is a 65% target). Ambulance services are under resourced, staff miss breaks and have to work beyond their shift. Due to pressure sickness absences for ambulance staff reached

6474-608: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to

6557-521: Was devolved in 1999. Responsibility, therefore, for NHS Wales was passed to the Welsh Government under devolution in 1999 and has since then been the responsibility of the Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care . NHS Wales provides emergency services and a range of primary , secondary , and specialist tertiary care services. District General Hospitals provide outpatient, inpatient, and accident and emergency services, and there

6640-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through

6723-505: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern

6806-633: Was said to be better than that for NHS staff in England because it guaranteed basic pay awards for the next three years to staff who are at the top of their bands. The geography of Wales means that there are areas where cross-border arrangements are necessary. The population of north Wales is too small to support specialist units, so patients travel to Liverpool and Manchester. There are no large hospitals in Mid Wales at all. More than 31,000 Welsh patients were treated in English hospitals in 2013/4. In October 2014 Jeremy Hunt claimed that English hospitals close to

6889-579: Was transferred from Swansea NHS Trust to the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust . The telephone number for NHS Direct Wales was 0845 46 47. All Welsh health boards have now migrated to the NHS 111 service. NHS Direct Wales also has integrated services with many of the A&;E departments in Wales where symptomatic callers phoning their A&E department will be transferred to NHS Direct for clinical triage. The service also fronts many of

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