Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to everyone who has participated in this very important debate. I would like to thank the Stroke Association for the work they have done over the last few months. The document on stroke recoveries at risk that was produced back in September is a very valuable contribution in terms of measuring the impact of the pandemic on services.

We know that the pandemic has made it more difficult for those affected by stroke to access the services that they need. We know how important effective and early treatment is, and not only is that difficulty in accessing care impacting on how well people recover physically after stroke, but it also has an impact on their mental health and well-being too. Now, the situation has been described very effectively by those who've contributed to this debate today, and I thank them all.

The motion before us calls for us to ensure that health boards are supported in maintaining stroke services at these difficult times, given the context of the pandemic. But the main demand on the Welsh Government is clear: we need a national stroke plan. Because what the pandemic has done, if truth be told, is to place even more pressure on services that were already under pressure, and now, more than ever, we need a plan showing a way forward to ensure that people, wherever they are in Wales, can access stroke services of the highest quality.

I'm grateful to the Minister for his comments. I also recognise the huge pressures that he referred to on services as a result of the pandemic, and that, inevitably, has had an impact. I, of course, also note that the Government and the Minister have told us that the current plan will be extended until 2022 because of COVID, and that work is ongoing on what will happen following that. But I don't hear that work is being done now to prepare for a national delivery plan of the kind we need, to be actioned by whoever is in Government. And I would like to see consensus being built across political parties, and that work could commence on that plan now. And that's the kind of commitment that I would've hoped to have heard from the current Minister, who, I assume, hopes to be Minister following the election too. We need that new plan, we need something that is more robust in terms of a commitment, rather than just continuing beyond 2022.

Deputy Presiding Officer, the cross-party group has done a lot of work on this. It's almost a year since the group consulted on how the current stroke plan has been delivered and that report was published in April. The fact that our main focus at that time was on the general response to the pandemic that had just hit us doesn't take away from the importance of that report and the conclusions reached by our inquiry. Yes, it identified very good practice, elements of the current plan that have been very successful, particularly, one has to say, in terms of the preventative work, but there is still too much inconsistency in terms of the service. It's clear that there's a lot of work to be done to strengthen governance structures in relation to stroke service delivery. 

And once again, we've heard how important it is that we move up a gear in terms of this work, to ensure that stroke sufferers in Wales receive the support that they need. I am confident that the Minister—who agrees with the sentiments, as he said, of this motion, although he didn't quite give the answers we would've hoped to have heard—has heard the arguments made very clearly. Once again, it's very important that they're aired here in the Senedd.