Thank you, Llywydd. I move this amendment with the support of my colleagues Dawn Bowden, AM for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Vikki Howells, AM for Cynon Valley, and Huw Irranca-Davies, the Assembly Member for Ogmore. I'm pleased to have the support of the Royal Glamorgan Hospital trade unions, who are behind this amendment. 

Llywydd, Aneurin Bevan said that

'Society becomes more wholesome, more serene, and spiritually healthier, if it knows that its citizens have at the back of their consciousness the knowledge that not only themselves, but all their fellows, have access, when ill, to the best that medical skill can provide.'

That is what this amendment is about. The establishment of the NHS is one of Labour's greatest achievements. Indeed, it is one of the Valleys's greatest achievements, since its founding principles were based on the values of our Valleys communities. In Wales we are defending the NHS, its principles, its people and its funding, from the forces of privatisation and austerity. But that is not enough. The great strength of the NHS is that it is owned by the people of Wales, and we are merely the custodians of the NHS and Nye Bevan’s legacy. To that extent we are accountable to the people who have elected us to this Welsh Parliament.

The Royal Glamorgan Hospital accident and emergency service is a vital and essential service for the people of the Pontypridd constituency who I represent, and to those in the Rhondda, Cynon Valley, Merthyr and Ogmore valleys. It is a life or death service and it is a service that none of us want to use but one we take comfort from in the knowledge that it is there for us when we need it.

It's clear to us that for six years the sword of Damocles has hung over the A&E department and has increasingly undermined the ability of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board to recruit the necessary consultants. Last week I and my Westminster colleague Alex Davies-Jones addressed a packed public meeting in Llantrisant. Thousands more watched online, and it was clear from the health board’s contribution that recruitment is the root cause of this crisis. Indeed, many were left wondering if there would be a need for a review if the health board’s recruitment strategy had been more effective. So, whilst it is right that the health board is facing up to this emerging crisis, its starting point must be how a full, consultant-led A&E service can by guaranteed now and into the future, not what is the least painful way of closing it down.

There are five key facts emerging. The south Wales programme is massively out of date and increasingly irrelevant to the needs of the people of Rhondda Cynon Taf. Prince Charles Merthyr and Princess of Wales Bridgend do not have the capacity to safely absorb the A&E provision currently provided in Llantrisant. There is massive housing and population growth in the Taff Ely area that was never taken into account, and which will in the future only exacerbate this dilemma. Closing the department and replacing it with a minor injuries unit is just not viable. And the health board's recruitment crisis is the fundamental issue, not the hospital’s location, nor its staff, nor its funding.

The only viable options are, I believe, to rule out the option of closure of Royal Glamorgan A&E; for Cwm Taf Morgannwg LHB to reinstate the option of retaining a permanent, fully-staffed 24-hour A&E unit in the Royal Glamorgan; to bring forward additional proposals for the expansion of out-of-hours GP services and extending the opening hours of minor injuries units at Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda and Ysbyty Cwm Cynon to alleviate the pressures on all three emergency departments; and to pursue a rigorous, comprehensive recruitment campaign across all three hospitals.

Nye Bevan also said—famously said—that:

'The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.' 

And, I think, in moving this amendment, I can assure Members that the people of the south Wales Valleys who so contributed to the establishment of the NHS have the faith to fight for the NHS and the retention of A&E services in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. Thank you, Llywydd.