Can I thank the Welsh Government for bringing forward this debate? It is vital that these changes are seen as part of the main stream of delivering our healthcare services, not just something that's happening on the periphery.

Last year, Llywydd, I spent some time taking a more detailed look at the health and social care provisions in my own constituency, and some of the innovation in neighbouring areas like the Cynon valley. I was impressed by much of the work that was happening, some of which the Minister and others have detailed. In Merthyr, GP clusters were employing GP support officers, and they were easing the pressures on surgeries often dealing with a range of non-medical issues that caused concerns to patients, and therefore freeing up GP time. And also the work developing neighbourhood planning zones across the upper Rhymney valley. I certainly heard very encouraging feedback about the work of the virtual ward in Aberdare, with active outreach work to help patients at risk. And I heard high praise for the community nursing teams in Hirwaun.

Some of these initiatives are very important, because they're easing pressures on GPs, as I’ve said, but also, just as importantly, they’re improving the quality of the working experience for the wider workforce. That was a very clear message from the community nursing team in Hirwaun, where they were using technology to allocate cases and were able to build in breaks, training time and team meetings so that, without a reduction in their caseload, they were able to manage their time more effectively.

So, all of these transformation initiatives, which Welsh Government is supporting and driving forward, are delivering improved patient care, but they are also easing pressures on GPs whilst improving the quality of the patient experience. And that’s really important. It’s part of the effective workforce management that we need moving forward. Because I know from my constituency work that access to primary care services does remain a high priority for many patients. Our task is to get them to the right type of support as early as possible—the point I think that Dai Lloyd was making—and, of course, it's now widely recognised that this is not necessarily always the GP; it also means, as you mentioned, Minister, the community pharmacist. It means the allied health professionals, the occupational therapists, the physios, and so on, as well as those that are accessing social prescribing, especially for low-level mental health conditions.

Yet even in these early days of transformation, I will think back to lessons that I can see from previous rounds of reforms in the Welsh NHS, and in drawing parallels from changes like the south Wales programme, the lesson that stands out for me is that the changes take too long to implement. For example, I’m currently dealing with an example around hospital-based dementia services in ward 35 at Prince Charles Hospital. In spite of decisions taken some five years ago—and I think that means two health Ministers ago—the alternative provision in the locality is not yet available. So, I have a developing stand-off with the health board over the remaining users of that service.

For my part, I’m clear that a move away from that hospital-based service is an improvement in support for those patients. But, unlike some other services, when dealing with dementia, an alternative is required in the locality, not only for patients, but also for the benefit of elderly husbands, wives and the wider family, who themselves must be considered in the process of that change. And, as we learned last week, in maternity services, there can be professional resistance to approved plans, and as a result, the changes that were aimed to deliver much-needed improvements in care were delayed.

So, I strongly feel that one lesson that the transformation programme could quickly learn is to adopt vital changes at a speedier pace. In short, we need transformation to succeed, we need alternatives to be in place as the changes take place, and we need that change to move at a greater pace.