Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. It is a huge privilege to be able to stand here today and celebrate 70 years of the NHS. 

Without the national health service, I wouldn't be here today. Eleven years ago, a hard-working NHS doctor discovered my breast cancer and an army of other hard-working doctors, nurses, radiographers and pharmacists saved my life. Without the NHS, many of my constituents, family and friends wouldn't be here. Seventy years ago, the average life expectancy was 65 and infant mortality was at around 52 deaths per 1,000 live births. Today, we can expect to live well into our 80s and it's believed that children born today could live well into their 100s. Infant mortality is down to well under three deaths per 1,000 and we have all but eradicated many of the biggest childhood diseases.

We have Wales to thank for this. If it wasn't for the Tredegar Workmen's Medical Aid Society and the vision of Tredegar-born MP Aneurin Bevan, we wouldn't have an NHS, and without the NHS, we wouldn't have kidney transplants, hip replacements, CT scans, bone marrow transplants or a whole raft of medical science improvements.

What makes the NHS such a success is the staff. Their commitment and dedication must be celebrated and we all owe them a debt of gratitude. From porter to paediatrician, admin assistant to anaesthetist, the NHS would be nothing without its hard-working staff.

The NHS is a fantastic achievement and one that we should rightly be proud of. But while we celebrate the achievements of the last 70 years, we have to look to the future. As our population grows and many of us develop long-term life-limiting conditions, and as medicines become more bespoke and therefore expensive we have to adapt. The NHS today is very different from the NHS in 1948 and will be very different in years to come.

Cabinet Secretary, I believe that your long-term plan is in the right direction, but we have to ensure that the policies are delivered on the ground. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development described the NHS as fairly mediocre with great policies not being translated into great practices. What can we do to ensure that policies can make it to the front line, and how can we improve buy-in from staff? The NHS is the world's fifth biggest employer, so any changes will require buy-in from a lot of personnel.

Cabinet Secretary, the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine have raised concerns about the impact of fatigue and shift patterns on the NHS workforce and have launched the Fight Fatigue campaign. Our NHS is reliant upon the staff, and we have to put the well-being of staff first. Cabinet Secretary, will you support the Fight Fatigue campaign and ensure the roll-out in all health boards across Wales?

Finally, Cabinet Secretary, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff, once again, and hope that I can play a very small part in ensuring that the NHS is around to celebrate its one hundred and fortieth anniversary, still providing world-class care free at the point of delivery. Thank you.