I would like to place on record my thanks to the committee clerks, Members' Research Service staff, and the various witnesses who helped us conduct this inquiry. The witness accounts were often harrowing and were difficult to digest.

Dementia is a major public health issue in Wales; it is believed to affect around 42,000 people in Wales and is most common among older people. Dementia affects one in 20 over the age of 65, and around one in five of those over the age of 80. Globally, it is predicted that the numbers living with dementia will rise by a staggering 204 per cent over the next three decades. Unfortunately, dementia is the only condition in the top-10 causes of death without treatment to prevent, cure or slow its progression. We therefore have to manage the symptoms as best we can, and by Wales becoming a dementia-friendly nation, ensure that people with dementia live independently for as long as is possible in a supportive environment. People with dementia are vulnerable and it is important that correctly trained staff furnish a person with dementia with the very best standard of care to meet these very specific needs, and that dignity and respect are visible and adhered to at all times when helping these people, who are often without a voice.

As the disease progresses, those living with dementia will need more and more specialist care, and as the prevalence of the disease increases, we are relying more and more on care homes to look after those living with this disease, which is why it is concerning that there has been an increase in the use of antipsychotic medication in care homes in order to treat the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. These drugs are not licensed for such use and their use is believed to contribute to the early deaths of nearly 2,000 dementia patients each year. This is a shocking statistic. It became clear, over the course of our inquiry, that these drugs are being routinely administered in response to the challenging behaviour of some dementia patients, even though that challenging behaviour is the result of an unmet need that the person with dementia is unable to articulate. It was also evident that a lack of access to allied health professionals was exacerbating the situation.

During our sessions with witnesses, it became evident that gathering the evidence on the use of antipsychotics was difficult, as the data was not collected and therefore readily available. The Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry called for audits to gather data on prescribing practices, which, they state, are critical to understand the prevalence and patterns of use of these drugs. I am therefore pleased that the Cabinet Secretary has accepted our first recommendation and that the Welsh Government will be taking action to reduce the inappropriate prescribing of these drugs. However, I would, as would the majority of my colleagues on the committee, like assurances that convening the relevant group of experts to look at this recommendation and the related recommendations won't take too long, and that we won't be looking at another few years before these recommendations are implemented.

I welcome the fact that the Cabinet Secretary shares our view that the use of antipsychotics for managing behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia is unacceptable. I am grateful that he has accepted some of our recommendations, but I urge him to ensure that they are implemented as swiftly as is possible. Those with dementia are some of the most vulnerable people in our society and should be protected from harm, not put in harm's way simply to make someone's job easier. We have a duty to ensure that misuse of antipsychotic medicine for dementia patients is eliminated, and I look forward to seeing the Welsh Government make swift progress on our recommendations.