I'd like to request a debate in Government time on staff shortages within the NHS. In the news today is the report about maternity services at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, and these services have now been centralised. A large number of angry and worried people from Maerdy in the Rhondda have also been in touch with me over the weekend about problems with their local surgery. At one minute to five last Friday, I received an e-mail from the senior manager at Cwm Taf health board that said: 

'The health board has made an urgent and unplanned decision to temporarily close Maerdy surgery for a period of four weeks, from Monday 11 March, for health and safety to investigate an exterior pest control issue in the grounds or near the surgery. During this time the surgery cannot provide any appointments or repeat prescriptions'.

All of this is driven, in my view, by staff shortages. Maerdy surgery has already cut its hours to 20 per week, putting an incredible amount of pressure on nearby Ferndale surgery. And I have received complaints since yesterday, from Maerdy people, describing the difficulties that they've had getting through to Ferndale surgery, by phone, to book an appointment.

Now, people in Maerdy fear that this is the thin end of the wedge, and that their local surgery is going to be run down, and eventually closed down. Does it really take a month to sort out a rat infestation, and why weren't other premises considered? There are plenty of other empty and underused buildings in the community—austerity has made sure of that. The people of Maerdy are seeking guarantees that your NHS staffing crisis won't result in threatening the future viability of their surgery. This is a community at the top of the Rhondda Fach, which is already isolated as a result of poor transport and roads, and people are sick and tired of having services taken from them. We'll be gathering at the surgery this Saturday morning, at 10 a.m., and I hope people there will turn out to show the strength of feeling on this. But a debate about wider staffing questions, with an opportunity for the Minister to give assurances and guarantees to this community, would be more than welcome.

I would also like to congratulate and welcome the announcement made on International Women's Day by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe, that she is providing for time off for staff experiencing domestic abuse. This follows on from groundbreaking policy developments in New Zealand, where Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern got such a policy through Parliament in July of last year. This is already party policy for Labour at a UK level. When the policy was announced by Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, Dawn Butler, she said:

'On average two women a week are murdered by their current or former abusive partner. These 10 days could literally help save the lives of those women.'

Having worked closely with Welsh Women's Aid, I know that Dawn Butler is not exaggerating here.

Given that this Senedd is the only national institution in the UK that is run by Labour, and Labour here is in a position to actually do something about this and show leadership that will mean that, hopefully, others will follow, when can we expect an announcement from Welsh Ministers for all Welsh public sector workers to be given the right to time off to deal with domestic abuse? Otherwise, how can you hope to be what has been called a feminist Government, striving to make Wales the safest place for women?