Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Suzy. First of all, I do think it's worth looking back historically at what's happened, because we do know that, in the first half of the twentieth century, many people who were Welsh speakers decided not to pass on the language to the next generation. We have to learn from what happened there and what the historical context was. The chapels were in decline, there were...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Chair. I'm very pleased today to be able to publish our national policy on Welsh language transmission and use within families. I said back in February, when publishing the draft version of the policy, that it's important that we understand that the language we use at home affects how comfortable our children feel using that language later in life. Our aim with this work...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Following a review of occupational health services across Wales, commissioned by health boards, we'll be working with partners to consider an appropriate occupational health solution for Wales, based on the review recommendations. I understand that a partnership group has been established to look at this work, including representation from unions, employers and the Welsh Government. We're...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: There are a number of apps available free of charge that provide support and guidance in dealing with anxiety, improving sleep and meditation processes to help people to clear their minds. We've extended the SilverCloud provision, which is an online service, so that all health and social care workers in all parts of Wales can access a variety of programmes provided at any given time, wherever...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, and I'd like to thank Jayne Bryant for giving us this opportunity to have this very crucial and timely debate. I think we've all seen the images of staff and hospital wards that can leave us in absolutely no doubt that the health and social care workforce will be changed by the experiences that they've been through, and I'd like to thank Jayne in particular for painting...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, and thank you for the opportunity to discuss this important issue. The fact that the petition has attracted so much support does demonstrate that there are very strong feelings about this issue. And I have to admit that this is an issue that I am concerned about, but there are practical problems that we need to look at. The fact is that people have a right to name their...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I meet with the health board regularly and I did have a meeting with them to hear what their intentions were for transforming mental health. I'm very pleased to see that they have taken these steps that are targeted at young people. Kooth has proved to be of assistance in other areas already, so it’s good to see that being developed. I do know that Public Health Wales...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I’m pleased to report that the Hywel Dda health board has worked closely with stakeholders over the past few years to develop its mental health transformation programme and they have reflected the changing mental health needs of the community in the updated framework.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is responsible for ensuring service provision meets the needs of the local community, including for mental health. Health boards set out their plans for quarter 3 and 4 in the operational framework.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. I think it's worth saying that just because the board is no longer in special measures and that we, as a Government, aren't directly responsible, it doesn't mean that we have stepped back entirely. The targeted intervention policy that's in place at the moment is still a measure that requires intervention. It ensures that we look in detail at what's happening. In addition to that,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, and you're absolutely right, Caroline, that we must recognise that when people have a physical problem in these very difficult circumstances, there is a real possibility that there will be a spillover into a mental health problem. In particular, those who've had, frankly, a confrontation with death—there are a lot of people who've come very, very close, and that in itself...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, David. I meet very regularly with the third sector and it was there where there were people who emphasised the importance of understanding trauma. They're the people who have really made sure that I've understood that that is fundamental to the way we move forward as a society—that we have been through a traumatic experience as a society. But of course, you're quite right,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, David. We absolutely recognise not just that long COVID is something that people are going to have to live with, and as you've seen, we've developed an app to try and help recovery for people, which we've launched this week. But also, we've got to focus, I think, on particular groups. Some of those are people who've had a prolonged time in hospital and critical care, so...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks, David, and I understand that there's been permission given to group this with question 8. Is that right? Great. The Welsh Government published a national rehabilitation framework underpinning population-specific guidance in May 2020 to help services to consider increasing the demand for rehabilitation, reablement and recovery throughout health and social care services. Mental health...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Mike. There is significant additional bereavement support that has been made available, and there's a recognition, in particular after suicide, that people may need some additional bereavement support under those situations. We've got to recognise that there are tens of thousands of people in Wales now who have lost loved ones during this crisis, and we need to make sure...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I think it would be very difficult for me to commit to contacting all the people in this space who are available, but I certainly recognise that there is a pool of experts that we could be making use of, and I think one of the things that I'm keen to do is to work with the health boards on this additional funding that we'll be putting in place for that tier 0 level support. There's no reason...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. We've positioned mental health services as essential services during the pandemic. This means that we expect services to be maintained, although we accept that delivery models may need to be adapted due to the restrictions.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks, Helen. I think it's really important for us to underline that the health route is not the only route—that, actually, the third sector can do a lot of amazing work in this space. And one of the things that I'm really keen to do is to develop the confidence of GPs, in particular, to feel that they can refer on to other places as well as the medical route. So, I had meetings with the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Helen. We expect all health boards to maintain mental health services and to monitor and respond to changing mental health needs. Health boards set out their plans in the quarter 3 and 4 NHS operational framework, submitted in December. They will produce an annual plan for 2021-22, in line with the priorities set out in the NHS annual planning framework for this year.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I think there is scope for us to see what more can be done in order to encourage people to dip their toe into learning Welsh, and that's why I appreciate what some schools are doing, which is that they ask teaching assistants to assist. There are projects in some schools where they ask sixth-formers to return for the following year so that they get a taste for teaching. I...
