BECAUSE Oliver Armstrong, age 3, lives in Wales he is denied life changing surgery in this financial year 2017/18 in Bristol Childrens Hospital, 30 miles across the bridge.

His parents  Jane and Anthony Armstrong need to raise £60,000 to pay for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) and therapy. A successful operation will enable Oliver to stand, walk, play and go to school with his friends.

The reason for this fundraising being that the Welsh assembly has donated just £200,000 in 2017/18 to the Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee.

Specifically for Welsh paediatric patients to undergo SDR treatment. Not surprisingly, funding approximately 3/4 operations annually for the whole of Wales, this money is fully committed for 2017/18!

In contrast the Welsh assembly  introduced additional legislation to reinforce the use of  the Welsh language at a cost to local councils of approximately £27 million.

It cost my own Torfaen council approx £900,000, and Newport council almost £1 million. This is in addition to spending upwards of £100 millions over the last 11 years forcing the language onto a reluctant public with little effect and to what purpose?

Now we also have a Welsh language commissioner, complete with office costs, that presented his ‘white paper’ to the assembly the same week he appealed for donations to his constituency food bank.

How can the assembly and some of their Welsh language supporters ‘at any cost’ defend just £200,000 for children’s life changing operations and wasting £27 million of tax payers money this year alone. Hang your heads in shame.

Joan Briggs
Ambryn Road
New Inn 
Pontypool