Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much. As I set out in my statement, parents who suspect their children have scarlet fever are advised that they should contact their GP or they should contact 111. Those facilities are available and people are using them. I would suggest at this point that they don't go to A&E, unless they are directed by 111 or their GP.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I think it's important, we've obviously put a lot of additional funding into 111. Obviously, as you say, we are working very closely with UK Government to make sure we don't run out of those antibiotics. We think this has happened because perhaps of the lack of social mixing over the past couple of years. What we're seeing now is a number of cases of this common bacterial infection—let's...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Well, Public Health Wales is leading on ensuring that information is available to the public. I've contacted them today to ask them to simplify the language, because I think, sometimes, it becomes too technical in nature. People perhaps don't understand the difference between strep A and iGAS, and people use terms that the public don't understand. So, I've asked them to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. Can I add my expressions of condolence to, in particular, the family who've recently lost a child? I think we all understand the real concern that many parents are suffering today because of the increase that we are seeing in strep A in our communities. Public Health Wales issued advice to schools and nurseries at the end of November. Staff should be aware of the possibility...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Strep A infections cause a number of common childhood illnesses. It's not unusual to see cases associated with nurseries and schools. Nurseries and schools have received guidance from Public Health Wales, and parents of unwell children are being advised to seek medical advice for diagnosis and treatment.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. I want to give you an assurance that the nurse bursary will remain. I'd like to emphasise that what we need is a fair funding settlement from the UK Government, which recognises the hard work of all of our NHS staff and other public sector workers and provides them with a fair reward for the jobs that they do. I take this opportunity again to implore the UK Government to consider...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: No, I'm not doing any more interventions, if you don't mind, because I know the Llywydd is going to call me to order very soon.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I can assure you that my officials are working on this as we speak. There's a lot of work being done. I do think people need to understand that we do have a legal requirement in terms of safe staffing levels. If you're saying, 'Don't use agency staff', what that will mean is that we'll have to close wards. There will be accident and emergency services that will have to stop. That's the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Sure.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, just to be absolutely clear, the pressures are way above that. This is no underspend this year. Wake up and smell the roses. I'll tell you how much extra I've had to find in terms of cuts this year in the NHS budget. It's cuts. We're way overspent.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: No, I can tell you there is no unallocated funding. I can't go further than that. I can tell you how much over—. I think we can get that information to you.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: No, I'm not going to give way again.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The supplementary budget is going to be coming out very shortly, and you'll get all the detail in there. You will see the impact of the inflationary pressures, and they are way over anything that was in unallocated funding that you looked at in June. Every penny of our budget is needed. But even if we did have underspends, let's be clear that this could not be used to fund pay awards. This is...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Yes, I'm happy to give way.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I want to say at the start that we absolutely recognise why so many nurses have voted for industrial action for the first time in the RCN's history. We believe that nurses, together with other hard-working NHS and public sector workers, should be fairly awarded for their work. Nurses, healthcare professionals, cleaners, porters, paramedics and many other professions...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Formally.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I would like to congratulate the staff on the immense amount of work that has gone into turning this department around. It really is quite remarkable; the leadership has been really transformed. And I'd also like to pay tribute to the bravery of the mothers who've really helped us to consider what changes needed to be put in place. So, a huge thank you to them, and it...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. On 7 November, I issued a written statement providing an update on the considerable progress achieved by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in improving its maternity and neonatal services since 2019. The health board maintains focus on delivering further sustainable improvements in leadership, culture and service integration.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I'm very willing to have a look at what the opportunities are and the benefits of doing that. As I say, I met with the Royal College of Midwives today, and the one thing I'm that I'm very aware of is, if you get it wrong in maternity, the costs are absolutely astronomical. So, it's an investment for us to make sure that we don't get it wrong, because, if we get it wrong,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Well, I know that there has been an issue, in terms of waiting lists for autism, for a long time in the Hywel Dda area. There are initiatives that are under way, of course, and we've had the capacity review, which has identified exactly what we need to put in place. If you don't mind, what I'd like to do is to ask my colleague, Julie Morgan, who is responsible for autism,...
