Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:43 pm on 17 March 2020.
Thank you, First Minister, for your statement. Can I place on record my thanks to everyone in Wales who is trying to keep our public services going against the backdrop of this illness? Many of my questions have been answered, but I did also want to ask about the issue of ventilators. Obviously, I heard your answer to Siân Gwenllian. I'm sure I won't have been the only one that was alarmed that we seem to be issuing a call to arms to the manufacturing sector to help us with the ventilator situation. I wonder if you could be a bit more specific about what kind of numbers we're looking at and what kind of assessment you've made of how much of a shortfall we have actually got in that area.
I very much welcome what's been said about the move to testing all healthcare workers. I think that is crucial. I think it's vital that we have as soon as possible, though, clarity on the issue around children and other dependents of health workers. It would be very helpful if the circular that you referred to that is going out today could be shared with Assembly Members, because I've certainly had a number of queries from healthcare workers in my constituency.
I wanted to ask about critical care beds. We'll have all watched with dismay the situation in Italy, but as I understand it, Italy has 12.5 critical care beds per 100,000 of the population, compared to 6.6 per 100,000 in England, and I'm not actually sure what the figure is in Wales. So, I'd like to ask what assessment you've made of the shortfall and what particular plans are in place to try and really boost that capacity now, when we really need it. Angela Burns referred to mental health: I think that is crucial, not just in terms of ensuring that people who have mental health problems—diagnosed mental illnesses—have got access to support, but also, I think, proactively, in terms of recognising that this is going to be a major mental health challenge for the whole country, really. I know there are lots of young people who are feeling incredibly anxious and people from all ages who are really feeling anxiety and who would benefit from a strong public health message in terms of how we all look after our mental health in relation to this crisis. Thank you.