I'm proud to contribute to this debate, just knowing how invaluable our hospice movement is, and I would like to endorse Helen Mary's comments about the fabulous work that Mark Isherwood has done on behalf of the hospice movement. Long before I became an AM, I knew of Mark because of the work he did, so thank you, Mark.

The Dying Matters coalition has concluded that

'It is in communities that the taboo of talking about dying and death needs to be tackled. To be effective we need to work together with everyone who has an interest in raising awareness on end of life issues.'

This is no more true than for hospice and palliative care. Mark was quite right to point out that 23,000 people in Wales have a palliative care need at any one time, and it is terrible that around 6,000 people with life-limiting conditions could be missing out on care provision and that one in four people die without the support and care they deserve.

Following the publication of the 'Inequalities in access to hospice and palliative care' report, your Welsh Government stated, Minister, that in 2018 the recommendations would provide additional focus. However, there remain several unmet aims. Recommendation 7 called on the end-of-life care implementation board to

'develop a robust action plan to address shortages in community nursing'.

We are a long way off achieving this. Hospice providers have warned of shortages in community paediatric nurses and that this has prevented some children receiving long-term care in their home. District nurses have seen a service approach move from calling in to task based, meaning that there is a need for more staff to meet these holistic needs. Even the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee have asked for an update on progress on the development of an action plan.

I must acknowledge that there are some excellent schemes under way, such as the pioneering out-of-hours end-of-life nursing service in north Wales, but there does remain a need to strengthen staffing requirements.

Finance is a major point of frustration too. For example, we—and I say 'we', I say that on behalf of every constituency, but me also as an Assembly Member—we are blessed that Llandudno is the home of St David's Hospice, an outstanding adult palliative care facility serving all of north-west Wales. However, less than 14 per cent of the funding it requires is provided by the Welsh Government and local health board.

Also with a special place in our hearts, in my constituency, is Tŷ Gobaith. Only one month of the hospice's income comes from statutory sources. This simply isn't good enough, and during Hospice Care Week, I called for more statutory support to be provided to Tŷ Gobaith. The charity loses out also as a consequence of the Welsh problem of poor statutory financial support. Welsh Government and local health boards contributed only 12 per cent of the amount children's hospices spend to care for seriously ill children in Wales. In England, the figure is 21 per cent; Scotland, 47 per cent. Welsh hospices deserve more.

Equally bad is equity of distribution, with one children's hospice receiving 8.1 per cent of its expenditure whilst another has 18.2 per cent. A contributory factor is that the funding formula has not been reviewed for a decade. Clearly, recommendation 11 of the report needs to be acted on so that we can be sure that allocations are based on up-to-date population need. Indeed, we have a rapidly changing and ageing population. The number of people aged 65 and over could rise by almost 40 per cent by 2041. Financial allocations need to respect and reflect that, but the solution is not just more money.

We have an opportunity to create a compassionate country. This is about central and local government encouraging, supporting and facilitating the actions of others. Sadly, the Welsh Government has not set a clear vision or milestones, but I am heartened by the fact that hospices are well placed to respond to a national plan. I will be fully supporting this debate today as I am confident that if the issues raised are positively acted on, the provision of palliative care services in Wales would be strengthened. Our people in Wales deserve nothing less.