Rhun ap Iorwerth: That was not my question. I was asking about pay negotiations.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: May I make a request for a regular series of statements with regard to the work that is being done to strengthen and reopen Pont y Borth? I've written to the Deputy Minister today. We've heard that work is to start soon on the bridge. We've heard that the bridge will open with a weight restriction early in the new year. We hear that there are issues being considered to mitigate traffic. We...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Chair. We're today asking the Welsh Government to support Welsh nurses. We're asking the Senedd to support our statement that nurses deserve fair pay for their work, and we ask Ministers to use all levers possible in order to make an improved pay offer to nurses. We are facing a nurses' strike for the very first time. Nurses, who are carers by nature as well as by profession, have...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'All strike action ends in the end in negotiation', but how about trying to end the strike action through negotiation? Even UK Government has negotiated, to no avail, but why on earth will the Labour Welsh health Minister not bring everyone back around the table through the Welsh partnership forum that's there for this exact purpose? I pointed out last week that Welsh Government hadn't even...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: There are 3,000 vacant nursing posts in the NHS in Wales. Nurses are leaving the profession. The failure to retain staff is a crisis. And unless these questions around salary are addressed, we will lose more—the crisis will deepen. More and more have been turning to agency work, contributing to the huge agency bill of some £130 million per annum now—a bill that we simply cannot afford,...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank goodness we haven't faced a shortage of people wanting to become nurses, to come into the profession. We've actually seen an increase, a positive increase, in nursing student places in Wales in every year bar one, I think, of the past decade. On its own, that is great news, but it's a leaking dam. Yes, we've more coming into nursing, but numbers leaving are undoing that, and the exodus...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I hope that I have painted a clear picture for you this afternoon as to why we must reach a settlement on the question of wages and support for nurses. But let me make it even more clear through the words and experiences of nurses and their families, speaking directly. A mother from Anglesey who has two nurses as daughters, one in Wales, and the other in Australia, unfortunately. The one in...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Tony, a retired child and adolescent mental health nurse, came out of retirement to help during the pandemic, and thank goodness he did. Now on a nurse bank, he says, 'The situation was bad before I retired, but, on returning to work, I was met with excellent nurses describing feeling sick with anxiety before going to work in the morning, and crying when they finished work because they felt...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Llywydd, it's a word I've used a number of times today: crisis. The NHS is already in crisis. It was pre COVID; it's always important to bear that in mind. But, of course, the pandemic has exacerbated the situation. But the situation could get even more critical. We now have nurses preparing to leave wards in a dispute over wages, while simultaneously more and more are preparing to leave the...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, and thank you for everybody's contributions to this debate this afternoon. We've heard from Member after Member why we appreciate nurses so much. Yes, we've thanked them on our doorsteps, as we've thanked all staff in the health and care service for their tireless work, but the point comes where we do have to show true appreciation, and that has to include through pay...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I did say that retention is perhaps more challenging than recruitment, but we have to ensure that we maintain all the tools needed to bring nurses into the profession, and remember many come not straight from school, but perhaps a little later in life and having to give up another job. They need the backing of that bursary at the current level. On the pay negotiations, Government has to come...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Emergency primary care units are one of the solutions put forward in order to reduce pressures on surgeries. But, in Ynys Môn, we see that nine of the 10 surgeries that we have on the island have made 278 referrals to the new unit in Ysbyty Penrhos Stanley, while the one surgery that is directly managed by the health board, Hwb Iechyd Cybi, has itself made over twice that number of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on the Government's long-term plans to follow the LEADER scheme? OQ58794
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for that response. I too share your frustration that the UK Government has gone back on its word in terms of expenditure post Brexit. The Minister will be aware of the excellent work that's been done under the LEADER programme. I'm particularly grateful to Menter Môn in my constituency for the innovative work that they've led in drawing down funds and starting projects through...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I speak on behalf of Plaid Cymru as co-tabler of the motion. All of us in this Chamber represent people affected by this terrible pandemic: people who have lost loved ones, people who want to know that when this happens again—hopefully not in our lifetimes—that Wales can be prepared, as prepared as possible, and as well armed as we possibly could be to make the right decisions next time....
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Quite simply, decisions taken in Wales need to be scrutinised in Wales, and we ask everybody to support this motion today as a means of ensuring that. Thank you.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement about what support is available to businesses following the closure of the Menai bridge? OQ58854
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Good afternoon, Llywydd. Good afternoon, everyone.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for that response. There's no doubt that the closure of the bridge has had a negative impact on business. The current economic climate also impacts on how much people spend, but in speaking to business after business, when I hear of a fall of 35 or 40 per cent in trade, which is a figure that's commonly heard—for some it's even more—we obviously need to respond to this. I...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: May I ask for a debate in Government time on the state of the NHS? As we enter winter, staff are doing their very best, but the situation is impossible. I've heard of a series of incidents affecting constituents over the past few days: one woman in her 80s, concerned that she'd broken her hip, waiting 24 hours on the floor at home for an ambulance; another elderly woman waiting hours in the...
