I’d like to begin my contribution to today’s debate by emphasising the importance of supporting people in their homes, concentrating on one aspect specifically. One specific area that can have a practical impact on improving the lives of many people is making adaptations to their homes: making it easier for people to use wheelchairs; a purpose-built shower; a stairlift; or railings to help people move round the house more easily. As my fellow Member Rhun ap Iorwerth mentioned, since 2011 we have seen a reduction of 21 per cent in the number of home adaptations in Wales and a 15 per cent reduction in cases where equipment is provided to people who need it.

All of the problems and difficulties caused by bureaucracy in terms of accessing grants in order to make home adaptations continues to be a problem, and this was highlighted by the report by the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee back in 2013. But to date, it doesn’t appear that there’s been much effort to take action on some of the issues raised in that report and the reduction in provision does suggest that the issue hasn’t been given due attention.

Now, behind every statistic there is an individual. I met a constituent recently who was concerned about a child in the family who needs surgery. In order to care for the child after discharge from hospital, the home needs a series of adaptations. The delays in making arrangements for these adaptations means that the surgery itself is likely to be delayed too. This adds to the stress faced by the family and the child and is unacceptable. It impacts the quality of life of the child and its family and the delays can lead to further problems down the line as the child’s medical condition deteriorates, leading to the need for further adaptation, which would be more expensive, ultimately.

It’s stories such as these that lie behind the statistics. I am looking into this case at the moment, but I suspect that it’s a shortage of funding that’s the heart of the problem—that is, that there isn’t enough money available to assist everyone who needs adaptations in this current financial year and that social workers have to make decisions that are extremely difficult in prioritising who is to receive adaptations and when. But, if the Welsh Government’s agenda is moving more and more towards preventative work, then there’s room to argue that adaptations should be fairly funded, if the Government wants to pursue priorities it has set for itself in the preventative sphere.

In turning to another aspect, it’s true that the care profession isn’t given the status and recognition it deserves. The working conditions are often very poor, and there isn’t much opportunity for career development within this sector. Zero-hours contracts remain a feature within the sector, despite the efforts of Plaid Cymru to ban them—efforts that, unfortunately, were frustrated by Labour and the Conservatives on a number of occasions. These factors do combine to make recruitment in the sector very difficult, which therefore has an impact on the services provided. The failure to pay staff for travel time has a disproportionate impact in rural areas, and the shortage of Welsh speakers within the sector is a cause for concern, particularly when they deal with people who have lost the ability to understand and speak English.

So, what can we do? Well, first of all, in terms of adaptations, certainly the Government needs to accept the recommendations of committee reports and to take action on them. Unfortunately, there isn’t much evidence of this happening, looking at the most recent reports and the statistics in terms of adaptations. Without doubt, we need to give more recognition to the social care profession and give it due respect, with people encouraged to see the profession as a lifelong career, and that must include a pledge by Government to ban zero-hours contracts.

Although it’s true that expenditure has increased in real terms historically, the problem of underfunding social care persists. It’s become like a stuck record to say this, but I will say it again and again, I’m sure, in this Chamber: we need to see far more collaboration between the health boards and the local authorities. The intermediate care fund must be a starting point and not the end of joint funding between the various institutions. We must have further integration between primary care, community care and social care for adults so that we can plan and provide care in a co-ordinated and person-centred way that’s provided locally.

Suzy Davies has raised some interesting points for debate this afternoon. It would be good to have more time to air those at some point in future. May I add the Alltwen Hospital in Tremadog as an example of good practice? These examples of good practice now need to be rolled out.

We need to move to remove the artificial boundaries between health and social services, and community hospitals need to be a key part in this—