We have real and significant challenges, and it's pointless to pretend that we don't. I regularly say that, both in this Chamber, in private conversations with healthcare professionals, with Assembly Members, and in arenas where I give speeches and answer questions. And I think it's really important to be consistent and to be mature about this in the way I approach my job. That's why I won't engage in an artificial search for numbers, because we have to understand what we are going to expect from our healthcare system and how we expect it to behave. The parliamentary review, for example, will help us and set challenges for us about the future way in which we expect health and care to be delivered. Obviously, then, the choices that we make in the Government about the future health and care strategy moving forward will affect the numbers of healthcare professionals that we need. And that's why I don't want to get tied down into one single group of professionals as opposed to others. And I deliberately answered your question in that way. We could have a bit of back and fore and look at the semantics between us if we wanted to. I don't think that's particularly useful. I'm much more interested in having a proper, grown-up conversation about the future of the national health service, it's intertwined relationship with social care and other partners as well. And that must be the right way to behave, not just in the Chamber, but in the way that I go about my business.

And when we think about, for example, the way in which we are making real progress with the range of recruitment challenges, we're investing more than ever before in nurse recruitment, more midwives are being recruited, and we have an at least 91 per cent fill rate in our GPs. And the First Minister indicated yesterday that I will update this place on the continued progress we've made in that area in the coming days. So, there is real progress being made, but there are real challenges. I would much rather be honest about that rather than engage in banter in the Chamber and a search for numbers that may not exist in the robust way in which they could and should do if we're serious about the future of the health service.