Thank you for the points—a number of similar points to Angela Burns, and some novel ones as well. In terms of the workforce challenge, as I say, we recognise it. In every statement that I make in this Chamber, every set of questions, I expect to get asked about the workforce challenges. These are challenges that are not unique to Wales, but we have a responsibility to help navigate our way through. I recognise the challenge about district nurses, even though other forms of community nurses have increased in number, and the challenge always is: how do we provide the right service so it is available for citizens so they can get good quality care, advice and support? Actually, nurses are really important keeping people out of hospital as well as caring for them where they are. We’re making better and better use of the skills of the nursing profession both to triage and to support people and to keep them in their own homes for longer, with more independence.

Actually, nursing staff are crucial, of course, to making extra beds work within an acute setting. There’s always a challenge about how and what you flex. Some of the staff within the system are prepared to work longer hours, but for a period of time. You can’t expect that level of activity to go on through the whole year in addition to the potential to have proper contract and agency arrangements as well. Now, the challenge always is about understanding the financial demand that brings as well, but there is a need—if you need extra beds and extra surge capacity around how you staff, that has to be part of the planning process. That’s why we expect every health board, with their local authority and service partners, to understand what they’re doing in the whole plan.

I have to confirm that, with social workers, we’re seeing more social workers placed in hospitals as part of the team. It isn’t simply about organising and taking people in different parts of the system. We know there’s a challenge with the social workforce about our numbers, but actually there’s a recognition that it’s a better place to have more social workers there as part of that team to help support people to return to the community. In terms of admission to any facility, it will have to be the clinician or the team of clinicians that makes that choice. It won’t be driven by points of view abut finance; it will be driven by what is clinically the appropriate place for someone to receive and take part in care.

Finally, I want to deal with perhaps the main new point you make, about elective admissions and elective activity. We know that, in the winter, we actually see a significant amount of elective activity take place. It isn’t true to say that no elective activity takes place in the winter. There are compromises with unscheduled care when there’s an increase in bed capacity taken up though unscheduled care, but elective activity still takes place. In fact, last winter, comparing January to March in 2016 with January to March in 2015, we saw more than 4,000 additional elective procedures take place within NHS Wales, so there’s a real need to continue to see more activity take place to make sure that people don’t wait unacceptable lengths of time.

I don’t want to stray into an entirely different point, but I recognise the challenge and pressure of elective activity in the winter, and some of the £15 million of resource we’ve given out will go into supporting elective activity through the winter.