Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 27 June 2017.
First Minister, the recent Mid and West Wales Health and Social Care Regional Collaborative statement on services for older people makes for concerning reading. The population of the Hywel Dda university health board area already has a higher proportion of older people than the Wales average, and that already higher proportion is predicted to increase dramatically in the coming years. And yet the number of people in the HDU area under the age of 65 years who provide unpaid care is predicted to decrease significantly in the next 10 to 15 years, and it is already proving very difficult to recruit paid carers. It is a job not well paid, with enormous time pressures, very often they’re not paid for the distance of travel that they do, and it is not often regarded well by other people within society. What are you as the Welsh Government going to do to raise and improve the caring status so that we can get more carers, and what do you think your Government could do to encourage and reward those people who do provide unpaid care selflessly, day-in and day-out, for their loved ones?