ON March 12, I joined the Minister for Communities, Lesley Griffiths AM, and the Vale Council Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Brooks, to officially launch the Newydd Housing development on the site of the former Magistrates Court on Thompson Street, Barry.

This award-winning development, which has received Welsh Government investment of over £3 million, provides 52 much needed new homes as well as retail premises, which are creating local jobs and supporting the economy.

On March 16, work began to install new x-ray equipment at Barry Hospital’s Minor Injuries Unit following a £240,000 investment boost.

I was pleased to visit the hospital last week with Maria Battle, (chair of the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board) and Cllr Chris Elmore (a member of the board) to meet with emergency nurse practitioners at the Minor Injuries Unit.

The new x-ray machine will serve the whole hospital – inpatient and outpatient- as well as the Minor Injuries Unit and will mean a better, more robust service for patients with reliable, state of the art equipment.

Speaking of state of the art equipment, the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) Cymru will become the first national pre-hospital service of its kind in the UK when it is launched in April, and will travel to emergencies in the most advanced vehicles seen anywhere in the world.

The Welsh Government will provide £2.868m from 2015-2016 to support EMRTS Cymru’s critical care team.

The Deputy Health Minister Vaughan Gething AM said:

“Our investment in critical care consultants and practitioners means EMRTS Cymru will be one of, if not the most, comprehensively equipped pre-hospital teams in the world in terms of personnel, equipment, blood products, drug, diagnostics and data collection.

"It will transform our ability to provide the very best care to the most critically-ill patients in Wales. It will provide patients in remote and rural areas of Wales with rapid access to the skills of a consultant in emergency or intensive care medicine, who are equipped to provide life-saving, specialist critical care.”

Finally, I was very pleased to congratulate Barnaby Hibbert last week, after his restaurant, The Gallery in Barry, was named the most sustainable restaurant in Wales for the second consecutive year.

This is a phenomenal achievement. The Gallery serves organic, locally grown produce and foraged ingredients and really is leading the way in terms of ethical and responsible food sourcing. What a treat to have this wonderful eatery on our doorsteps in Barry.