Biting the Hand that Feeds

The Noah’s Ark Appeal is astonished that First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, could launch such a personal attack on the organisation and its chairman that has given Wales phase one of its very first, purpose-built hospital for sick children.

Many people thought, when the Noah’s Ark Appeal was launched six years ago, that building a children’s hospital for Wales was the responsibility of the government, not the public. 

After ten years of campaigning without success, Lyn Jones and the trustees of the Appeal were left with no doubt that relying on the Government for the project to go ahead would mean that the hospital would not materialise.  With public support from across Wales, a charitable appeal was set up to provide what the Government would not for sick children across Wales.   

After delivering phase one of the Children’s Hospital for Wales, the Noah’s Ark Appeal continues to play a vital role in providing services that enable the hospital to remain at the forefront of child health-care.  Our current campaigns this year will enable a teenage cancer trust unit to be built and will provide new eye equipment that will revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of children with eye conditions.  Soon we will launch a campaign to provide free bedside TV and radio for the children.  How the First Minister can say that we have no role is at best misinformed and at worst shameful and wholly unappreciative of what the Appeal has achieved for very ill children in Wales.

As well as having secured funds for future projects, such as a special garden that will be a safe and magical haven for the children and their families, the Noah’s Ark Appeal feels a moral duty to see the hospital completed so that every sick young patient is treated in a world-class, child-friendly environment.

We remain frustrated and angry with the delays surrounding the completion of the Children’s Hospital for Wales. 

The first business case was submitted back in February 2005.  The Assembly’s own commissioners determined that it was too expensive.  Now the First Minister reveals that the full business case will not be looked at until summer 2007 - well after the elections and exactly two and a half years after the first patient was admitted.  This means that Wales won’t see a completed hospital until 2010 at the earliest.  We are truly horrified by this news.

Where is the Assembly Government’s sense of urgency on a matter of such national importance? Doesn’t the Assembly share the views of the people of Wales that the Children’s Hospital for Wales is vital?

Lyn Jones MBE set up the Noah’s Ark Appeal and has served as Chairman of Trustees since the charity’s launch in 2000.  In this role Lyn has work tirelessly to raise money for the cause, securing the support of world-famous celebrities such as Ian Botham, Catherine Zeta Jones and Charlotte Church and travelling the length and breadth of Wales visiting every type of organisation including schools and church groups to meet the thousands of individuals who, like him, passionately believe that a dedicated children’s hospital in Wales is vital.  Lyn understands what the people of Wales want and has delivered this through the Noah’s Ark Appeal. 

Lyn has a lifetime of public service, industriously dedicating himself to the needs of others without personal gain.  Among his former achievements Lyn served as the Chairman of the Variety Club, building a holiday home in West Wales for disadvantaged and disabled children and providing several sunshine coaches.  He has also served as Chairman of Governors at a school for children with special needs.  For all of his work, including that at the Children’s Hospital, he has been deservedly honoured at the highest levels.