Diolch, Presiding Officer. Minister, you'll be very familiar with the core principles of NHS Wales, and I'm sure that, like me, you will have read the various mission statements and heard the aims being promoted by health boards. Ambitions such as putting people at the heart of everything we do, and caring for people, keeping people well, and my personal favourite and the new mantra that's often quoted at me now is 'to be kind'. And the principles themselves make much of putting patients and users of the service first, then learning from experience, and so on.

My constituent, Georgina, was scheduled for an urgent spinal operation in January of this year. Without it, her spine would deteriorate to such an extent that her temporary paralysis would become permanent. From January, Georgina's operation was cancelled five times by Swansea Bay University Health Board, until we had a result last week, and a result pretty much because members of my staff camped on the door of that hospital. Not only was the quality of her life going forward compromised, but, and I'm now quoting directly from a letter from a consultant who says,

'I regret to inform you that the situation with access to spinal surgery in Swansea is creating such delays that I am witnessing people coming to harm. These cases have been appropriately reported as they occur.'

This is deeply concerning, Minister, for clinical safety. I don't think this is a service that adheres to the principles and mission statements often touted by NHS Wales and our health boards. Do you?