
Welsh Government campaign launched to support young carers
It highlights the experiences of young carers like Tamanna, who support family members with disabilities or long-term health needs.
Tamanna said: "I am a 23-year-old British Bangladeshi.
"Alongside my siblings I am an unpaid carer for my mum who has a range of medical conditions.
"As I live with her, I am her primary carer.
"I don't think about this as care as it's my mum and I love her dearly and want the best for her.
"However, it can become difficult when I am unable to take time off from work.
"It's a struggle but we manage by working together as a family.
"Eid celebrations are always at my mum's house where everyone comes together to enjoy the much-needed family time."
She highlighted that this time gives her 'a form of respite' as there are others there in the house.
"This is what Eid truly means for us.
"It is a time of remembering and being there for one another."
The Welsh Government estimates that around 30,000 young carers live in Wales, many of whom remain unidentified and unsupported.
Dawn Bowden, minister for children and social care, said: "As we mark Carers Week, hearing voices like Tamanna's reminds us that caring responsibilities don't pause for holidays.
"This campaign helps young people recognise when they're caring and connects them with vital support.
"We want to ensure young carers don't miss educational opportunities or struggle with their wellbeing.
"By seeing themselves in these stories, I hope more young people will reach out for the support they deserve."

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Powys County Times
17 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Calls in parliament to scrap Powys patient wait increase
Calls have been made in Parliament to for Powys Teaching Health Board to scrap its policy that intentionally increased wait times for patients using English Hospitals. Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP, David Chadwick challenged Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens, arguing that the change made earlier this year undermines both Welsh and UK Government commitments to reduce NHS waiting lists and help people return to work. It was revealed at a meeting of Powys Teaching Health Board that the trust that runs Shrewsbury Hospital has so far not implemented the changes. Chief Executive of Powys Teaching Health Board warned that further 'unpalatable' changes were being prepared as the Trust tries to battle a budget deficit of over £30 million. Mr Chadwick highlighted the case of his constituent Melanie Walker, from Llandrindod Wells, who has already waited 59 weeks for a hip operation and now faces an additional 45-week delay due to the new policy. He asked Ms Stevens whether she considered this fair to Melanie or consistent with her Government's pledge to reduce waiting times. While Ms Stevens expressed sympathy for Melanie's case, she deflected the question with a political attack on the Liberal Democrats, a response Chadwick later called 'very disappointing.' Help support trusted local news Sign up for a digital subscription now: As a digital subscriber you will get Unlimited access to the County Times website Advert-light access Reader rewards Full access to our app 'Powys Health Board needs to drop this policy immediately. It's placing patients' wellbeing at risk, and they have seemingly not provided detailed impact assessments or modelling regarding the policy,' said Mr Chadwick. 'I was extremely disappointed that when I raised such an important issue with the Welsh Secretary, she chose to descend into party political attacks rather than address the case I brought forward. 'The Welsh Labour Government continues to deny it has responsibility on this issue, but this crisis is a direct consequence of its underfunding of Powys Teaching Health Board and the cuts the Welsh Government are forcing it to make.' The party have also criticised the responses they have received from the Welsh Government and Health Minister Jeremy Miles when raising the issue with him and claim that the Welsh Government is "essentially trying to wash its hands of the issue, despite forcing Powys Health Board to make huge cuts to its budget".

South Wales Argus
21 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Natasha Asghar on state of health care across Wales
It is clear successive Labour Governments have failed to address the challenges within our health service over the years. If anything, things continue to go from bad to worse under Labour's watch. NHS treatment lists remain shamefully high with just shy of 780,000 patient pathways open – that's the equivalent of nearly one-in-four people. The Welsh Government should hang its head in shame over that statistic. The latest figures show two year waits for treatment are on the up in Wales again to 9,600 whereas across the border in England it's just 171. Just 50 per cent of red calls - the most serious - received an emergency/ambulance response within the eight-minute target time, down on the previous month. We are still nowhere near hitting the target of 95 per cent of patients waiting less than four hours in Welsh A&E departments. That's the grim picture nationally, and locally, I am afraid it is not much better. In my region, we have more than 141,000 patient pathways within the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board with 14,716 patients waiting over a year for a first appointment. A staggering 24,666 patients have been waiting longer than a year for treatment in April 2025 – that's nearly one in five patients waiting longer than a year. Not only that, 374 patients were waiting more than two years for treatment in April 2025. The Grange Hospital has 57.5 per cent of patients waiting less than four hours in its emergency department, the fourth worst in Wales. Shockingly, 1,115 patients were waiting more than 12 hours at The Grange in May this year – which works out to be 15 per cent of total patients seen at the department. These aren't just statistics. These are my constituents languishing in pain on a waiting list for treatment. And this is utterly unacceptable. Recently the Welsh Conservatives brought forward a debate urging the Welsh Government to declare a health emergency so all efforts can be directed to driving waiting lessons down. Shockingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, Labour politicians in the Senedd and their Plaid Cymru pals blocked the move. As ever, if there is anything I can do to help going forward, please do not hesitate to get in touch by calling 01633 215138 or email Natasha Asghar is Senedd member for South Wales East.


BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Resident doctors fear unemployment due to lack of training places
Many resident doctors are facing unemployment this summer because insufficient training places have been funded in Wales, a union has doctors - formerly known as junior doctors - can start speciality training after two years, to progress their careers and pursue a particular area of medicine such as neurology, dermatology or general a survey by doctors' union BMA Cymru Wales suggests as many as 40% are facing unemployment as there are not enough training told the union they had applied for 30 posts without securing an Welsh government said it was working with governments across the UK to explore solutions. BMA Cymru Wales said Health Education Improvement Wales (HEIW) recommended expanding the number of specialty training places to cope with the growing number of people training to be doctors in claimed that had not been taken on board by the Welsh graduation, resident doctors carry out two years of foundation training, but can start specialty training after two years, to become a BMA claim that data obtained through freedom of information requests shows a significant increase in the number of applicants for these places across the UK, without a corresponding rise in the number of places Welsh government said there had been an increase of 342 specialty training posts and 222 foundation the survey by BMA points to dissatisfaction among resident doctors who were not on their preferred career said: "I have had to apply for over 200 jobs to secure a slot that's below my level and doesn't advance my career." Chairman of the BMA's Welsh resident doctor committee Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu said: "At a time when Wales needs more doctors, there are limited opportunities for resident doctors to develop their careers in the country where they trained."Earlier this year, we wrote to the cabinet secretary for health and social care warning him of the potential impact of not expanding training places, including medical unemployment."The anonymous survey heard from one doctor: "I was unemployed for several months and despite travelling nationally for any locum shifts available, I was unable to get enough to pay all bills. Locum shifts are scarce."Another said: "I've acquired tens of thousands of pounds of student and personal debt funding medical school and now struggle to find a job. I've applied for emergency medicine training two years in a row, a specialty desperate for extra trainees, but the number of jobs haven't increased." Dr Babs-Osibodu added: "Doctors are now forced to seek ad hoc locum work, leave Wales, or leave the profession altogether. Poor workforce planning and chronic underfunding of the NHS has led to a national shortage of doctors in Wales."This is unsafe for patients, and we need to see urgent intervention from the Welsh government, including legislation to provide safer staffing levels and an expansion in specialty training places."By alleviating bottlenecks in the training pipeline, we can enable doctors to progress their careers and provide the specialist care that patients desperately need."The Welsh government said: "We're currently investing £294m into health professional education and training in Wales."We have supported a significant increase in the number of postgraduate medical training posts and since 2019, there has been an increase of 342 specialty training posts and 222 foundation posts. We now have approximately 1,900 trainees in secondary care training programmes, and 900 in foundation training, as well as 160 GP training places every year."We continue to work closely with governments across the UK to explore solutions."