Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement today, and can I join others in thanking the dedication and commitment of all our NHS and care staff across Wales? I'm sure I speak for every Member in this Chamber when I give those thanks, because they have given the service above and beyond what they normally would do anyway, and always do that, and they don't just do it in the winter pressures, they do it throughout the whole year. Can I remind Members in the Chamber that my wife is a member of the NHS and therefore is in the front-line services, so I put that on record? Can I also welcome the investment in social care to improve the care packages that are available to get people out of the hospital? Because we all agree that that is one of the problems—it's people not getting out through the system fast enough to ensure that beds become available as people come in to the front end. It's critical that we address that.

However, we still have those problems at the front end. In your statement, you identified 65 per cent of the red calls target being met. I appreciate that, but the reality is that's one in three not receiving the red call target in time. Therefore, we need to address that because they then have a knock-on effect on the amber calls, which receive delays. I've had many constituents who have been in touch with me recently about 14 to 15-hour waits for ambulances and being told, 'Don't move the patient if they've had a fall', and a vulnerable elderly patient who has had a fall is sitting on the floor waiting for an ambulance. That amber call becomes a red call the longer they wait. Therefore, we do need to address that.

I appreciate the challenges of investing in the ambulance service, but we need to make sure that those ambulances get there on time and get the patients to the hospital on time, so that the ambers don't become red and the patient doesn't stay in the hospital longer than necessary. In one case, I had a patient who had to actually wait in hospital for two or three days whilst they stabilised before they could actually have an operation on the hip they'd broken. So, it is important we address those issues. So, I'm asking the question as to how you're going to ensure that process happens quickly so that we don't get more ambers becoming red and patients waiting for those hours.

Can I also highlight—you mentioned earlier in an answer that the 111 system in AMBU is being piloted. It is actually working, it was referred to us last week in a briefing I had, and it does offer a great deal of choices to patients and to relatives who phone the 111 service and get different answers and maybe therefore no longer need an ambulance but get a better service. But in the situations when they do need an ambulance, can I highlight this point? I phoned the ambulance headquarters last week, wanting to get hold of somebody to get an ambulance out to a patient. I got a number and was told—this was after hours—'Phone the contact centre.' Three times I phoned the headquarters and checked that number, because five times the answer came back, 'This number is not recognised.' That's not acceptable. We need to address that, so that when someone needs to get hold of them, they can get hold of them. So, can we please address that?

Rhun ap Iorwerth talked about the electives, and I appreciate what your comments were on those electives, and I do understand that emergencies come in and those emergencies take priority. I understand that. But many patients are being cancelled. Can you give me perhaps—? I'm happy to do that in writing, in a letter, but how many were postponed? How many were cancelled over the period we're talking about, not just December, but from the start of the winter—let's say November—to perhaps the end of February now, and see hwo many patients—? Because that has a knock-on effect as well, and it's important that we address the knock-on effect of those electives being postponed and delayed, because, again, we've seen situations in the summer that therefore mean that we get pressures in the summer. 

And can you also tell me of the investment into the primary care system—? I welcome that, totally welcome it, particularly as we understand the difficulties in GPs being recruited in to cover out-of-hours sessions, and that's one of the problems we have, so the wider community service is important. But can you tell me how much funding was actually put into district nurses, because district nurses are facing very serious challenges, and have you specifically ring-fenced any of that funding for district nurses? If not, will you be looking at how funding for district nurses is being applied across the health boards to ensure that they're able to undertake their duties in the community, which takes the pressure off the GPs, which then takes the pressure off A&E, so there's an actual consequence on—? 

And I'll leave it at that, because I can see the Deputy Presiding Officer telling me to sit down.