Caroline Jones: Will the Minister outline the actions the Welsh Government is taking to improve renal services in Wales?
Caroline Jones: In order to ensure the citizen voice body is an effective replacement for the community health councils, we must ensure it has effectively trained staff. As you're only as good as your training, it is vitally important that we place a duty upon the new body to fully equip and train all its staff and volunteers to prepare them for the conduct of duties. If we are to have strong advocates, we...
Caroline Jones: We believe that both the amendments in this group are essential to the effective operation of the citizen voice body. Without a legal duty to co-operate being placed upon NHS bodies and local authorities, there is a danger that the citizen's voice will fall on deaf ears.
Caroline Jones: In our opinion, amendment 45 is one of the most important amendments we're discussing today. The ability to make unannounced visits into NHS facilities has enabled the CHCs to highlight failings that have impacted patient care. The fact that the Minister's vision for the CHCs' replacement did away with these visits was of huge concern to the majority of opposition politicians, patient...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. To be an effective champion, the citizen voice body must be heard. The community health councils have been an effective champion for Welsh patients, in part, because of their right to be heard. Public bodies have to take notice of representations made by CHCs. The amendments tabled by Angela and Rhun extend this duty to the citizen voice body. If this new body is to be our...
Caroline Jones: One of the biggest criticisms of the Welsh Government's plans to replace the CHCs was the loss of the local, regional voice. We have given our support to Angela's amendments because, in our view, they will help restore the local links that would be lost by scrapping the CHCs and replacing them with a small national body with an office in Cardiff, for example. If the new body is to truly be...
Caroline Jones: While I cannot support the lead amendment in this group, I have some sympathy with what the Minister is seeking to do. However, I believe that this place, not Welsh Ministers, is best placed to appoint members to the citizen voice body. I therefore choose to support Angela's amendments. The citizen voice body is one of the most important parts of this legislation. I never supported replacing...
Caroline Jones: I'm backing the amendment in this group, and I agree with Plaid Cymru that there has to be a register for NHS managers. I've said many times in this Chamber that we must ensure health service managers abide by the same obligations as clinical staff. Clinicians are covered by duties of care placed upon them by their royal colleges and the various professional bodies. Managers are an essential...
Caroline Jones: I'm also supporting the amendments in this group. If we are to have any chance of achieving the duty of quality, we must have statutory guidance in place that instructs health and social care providers on how they can go about implementing the duty of quality. Without statutory guidance, we leave it open to interpretation by the local health boards and local authorities. A duty of quality...
Caroline Jones: I thought long and hard about whether to table my own amendments to this Bill, and in the end, I opted to support amendments put forward by my colleagues. The whole point of amending legislation is to improve it, to ensure that the resulting Act will benefit the people who chose us to represent them. Instead of us all going our own way with competing amendments, it was better to put aside...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your latest update, Minister, and I welcome the measures the Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and our excellent NHS staff are taking to protect us from the spread of the SARS COV-2 virus. Some of the measures, such as the new software to enable video consultations, will enhance our health service beyond this outbreak, and we must capitalise on this service, which, in this...
Caroline Jones: What actions is the Welsh Government taking to ensure tenancy agreements meet the needs of tenants in social housing?
Caroline Jones: Well, sometimes it's a last resort, but what I was saying is, I think that more prevention is needed to ensure that children are not taken into care in the first place. And I don't think that support network is there. So, I agree with you—sometimes, but not totally, Rhianon. Thank you. So, where was I? I'd said that the Welsh Government and the UK Government must work together to understand...
Caroline Jones: Yes, certainly.
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Angela. It's totally disrupted the whole family's life, you know? So, as we take steps to improve the life chances of those in long-term care, whether that is in a care home or with a foster family, the Commission on Justice in Wales stated that children’s interests are being neglected in the family courts and were concerned at the very high numbers of children being taken into...
Caroline Jones: I thank the Welsh Conservatives for tabling this important debate. Sadly, the number of children taken into care has doubled in the past 20 years. And, while the needs and safety of the child must always be the only priority, we must do all that we can to reduce the number of children taken into care. Because, as the Welsh Conservatives' motion rightly points out, the life chances of...
Caroline Jones: Minister, over the next five to 10 years, the number of one-person households is expected to increase by 15 to 20 per cent. We know we already have a shortage of good quality single-bedroomed accommodation available for social rent. There are around 60,000 single-bed social housing properties in Wales, but half of these are supported or sheltered housing. Minister, given that the majority of...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you for your statement, Minister, as well as your earlier written statement on the joint action plan. I'd like to commend the work being undertaken by you, your officials, Public Health Wales, and our amazing NHS staff in preparing for the COVID-19 outbreak. I also welcome the fact that the 111 service is now available in all parts of Wales. And regarding this...
Caroline Jones: First Minister, regeneration of the northern Valleys requires more than just economic development and better transport links. We have to regenerate the environment and ensure our Valleys communities are places where people want to live and work. First Minister, in light of the comments by the Royal Meteorological Society that the damage caused by storm Dennis is a taste of things to come as...
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Minister. Our past reliance on a handful of large employers has left the economy of South Wales West vulnerable. The closure of the Port Talbot steelworks would be devastating for the region, and we face huge challenges in diversifying. But we can also seize the opportunities, if we can think ahead. The biggest challenge we face as a nation is decarbonisation, which also offers us...
