Rhun ap Iorwerth: I'd like a written statement by the Minister for health in response to concerns that I have in terms of the pace at which the Betsi Cadwaladr health board has responded to enquiries and complaints. There's one case that stands out specifically, relating to an enquiry on behalf of a constituent who suffers from long COVID. We're still waiting for a full response to an enquiry from May 2021...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Another appeal to speed up the visa process. There is a community on Anglesey that is ready to welcome a mother and daughter; the school uniform is ready to go. It is now nine days since the family on Anglesey began going through the visa application process—doing it themselves, rather than leaving it to the mother and daughter, because it's in English only and they don't have good English,...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: There are three sets of regulations in front of us today. The first two extend the current situation, and as we are in a challenging situation at the moment, with very high numbers of cases of COVID, we think that that is a sensible thing to do. We will be supporting those regulations, and I don't think that further comments are needed from me on that. But, for the exact reason that we are...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Let me quote the First Minister's words from earlier this afternoon, answering a question, actually, about the ambulance service. He said, 'we have some of the highest numbers of people falling ill with the virus of any time in the whole of the pandemic. Only a matter of weeks ago, we managed to reduce the number of people in our hospital beds suffering from coronavirus down to around 700. It...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The Minister said this afternoon that we can't keep these regulations in place forever. I agree entirely, and if we were to have this vote in three weeks' time, I'm sure that we would support it. But with people still feeling vulnerable and nervous having to go to a shop or travel by bus or train, why create greater risk for them now? The other safeguard that is being scrapped entirely now is...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: To conclude, Llywydd, I understand that Welsh Government has had to make all sorts of political judgments after looking at evidence. In this case, I just think Welsh Government has got its judgment wrong, and that's why we'll be opposing this amended regulation.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: If I could. In general terms, do you think moving mask wearing from mandation to guidance will make more or fewer people wear a mask?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 2. Will the Minister make a statement on the announcement that Orthios has been placed in administration and the impact of that on the 120 local jobs? TQ616
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It's okay.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: This has come as a terrible blow to the island's economy, and I'll say more about that in a moment, but more immediately, of course, to the workforce, and my thoughts are with them today. One told me they'd been informed through a WhatsApp message group. A member of my team has been taking part this afternoon in a meeting of a taskforce set up to help workers, and I'm grateful to Citizens...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for the opportunity to make a few comments in this debate, and no, we haven't put forward any amendments, because there is a set of principles here that I'm sure that we could all support. Pharmacy is at the heart of our health services. It has to be, but it hasn't always been the case. Too often, I think pharmacy, and community pharmacy in particular, have been seen as something on...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Of course.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I would certainly agree with that as a suggestion. I would like to think of all our health and care workers as paid apprentices in some way, learning a trade that they will be able to use, whether that is as a doctor or a care worker or pharmacist within our health and care services in Wales. We have to be innovative in the way that we look at strengthening our workforce.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I can see that time is up. It's good to see agreement on this today, but it's one thing to have that agreement on a set of principles, it's another to see the Government delivering on those things that are genuinely going to make pharmacy stronger and more sustainable for the years to come.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It's good old-fashioned pork-barrel politics, isn't it? We heard recently that Ynys Môn would be getting some £16 million from the so-called shared prosperity funds. And whilst any funding is to be welcomed, of course—and I'll work with partners to make sure that projects on Anglesey will benefit as best as possible—there's no escaping the fact that this is a fraction of the funding...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you to the Minister for her statement. The first thing I'll say is that I don't think it's possible for me to ask every question that I'd like to ask today, and to be fair, it's not possible for the Minister to provide all of the responses this afternoon. But today is the start of a process in holding the Government to account on the most...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: the pandemic has simply exacerbated the problem that we were already facing.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: That's the reality of the situation, and that tells us so much about the failure of one Minister after another to put the health and care services of Wales on the sustainable foundations that we need. What the pandemic has done is to show just how unsustainable things were. If it is the Minister's intention to take us back to how things were prior to the pandemic, well, God help us. I will go...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I've received some comments today from Cymru Versus Arthritis, worried about the targets that are in relation to cutting waiting times for most specialities, rather than all. Given how long orthopaedic waiting times are, this is one heck of a get-out clause for Welsh Government: 'We'll sort waiting times except those people who are waiting the longest'. I would appreciate an undertaking to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Technology, very briefly—I was going to urge you to talk about technology and the use of technology. I'm pleased to see the commitments to develop the portal so that patients can know where they are within the system. Just a few questions arising as a result of that. When will this portal be ready? Will you be using front-line staff to help develop that proposal? And also, will it allow...
