This petition was submitted by Rhys Bowler having collected a total of 779 signatures.

Text of Petition:                     

Rhys has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and lives in daily fear for his life, left alone for hours hoping the ventilator he needs to breathe doesn't break. He must choose between poorly funded social care and an NHS Continuing Healthcare package that takes away his choice over who cares for him.

If Rhys lived in England he would have a personal health budget, allowing him to use NHS Continuing Healthcare while still being able to choose who cares for him. This is not available in Wales

Additional Information:

I'm Rhys, 33 and living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in Pontypridd, Wales. I have extremely limited mobility and need a ventilator to breathe.

I've employed my own care assistants for decades and have a lot of experience of training and employing them. I've had bad experiences using agencies and not having a say in who cares for me. I want to choose the care assistants I want. I want to know who is coming in my home to help me with my intimate personal care, and I want them to be people I trust and have trained in how best to provide my care. Don't let my experience go to waste!

I want a Personal Health Budget so I can have both 24 hour care and a choice over who my care assistants are. This has been available in England since 2014, it's time Wales took this seriously and started giving people real choice and control about the care they receive.

Senedd Constituency and Region

• Pontypridd
• South Wales Central

Further information

• The Petitions Committee homepage
• View all open petitions
• View all petitions the committee is currently considering
• How the petitions system works