Motion NDM7489 as amended:

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Notes that the Welsh statistics published on 19 November show an 11 per cent increase in the total numbers waiting for treatment from September 2019 to September 2020, and it is the growth of waits over the national target 36 weeks that have increased ninefold, a trend which has been seen in all areas of the UK.

2. Further notes the warning from leading cancer experts and charities that 2,000 people could die because of COVID-related delays in the Welsh NHS.

3. Recognises the hard work, dedication and commitment of staff in the healthcare sector supporting patients not just with coronavirus but with a variety of conditions.

4. Regrets that Wales, the UK, and the world will be living with the effects of COVID-19 for many years.

Notes that whilst COVID remains in our community, NHS plans are focussed on balancing the safe delivery of COVID and non-COVID services

5. Calls on the Welsh Government to:

a) work with local clinicians to develop models of delivery which maximise all resources to deliver safe, quality care for both COVID and non-COVID pathways to local communities;

b) conduct an urgent review into how hospital patients in Wales are being discharged during the pandemic and implement those findings to tackle bottlenecks in hospitals, as recommended by the Royal College of Physicians;

c) significantly improve its testing regime to ramp up capacity and ensure that COVID-19 is isolated and kept out of Welsh hospitals;

d) continue to work with the cancer network and NHS to ensure cancer services are able to meet new and current demand, and agree how to deploy future investment to deliver on the agreed commitment for rapid diagnostic testing; and

e) continue our nationwide campaign to ensure that people who suspect they have cancer, or need to go to hospital in an emergency, continue to do so.