I'm pleased to take part in this really important debate. I will begin by doing something I don't usually do, and that is to quote the words of another person, and I'm going to quote the words of Helen, who is a nurse from Llanelli. I've known her and her work for a very long time. She has e-mailed me about a number of healthcare issues, but I want to just quote briefly some of the things she says about nurses' pay: 'As for nurses pay, the misinformation and manipulation of the facts about previous pay increases and that the vast majority of nurses are on salaries of over £30,000 peddled by the Westminster Government needs to be challenged. Many nurses are the main breadwinners in their family, and their income is not secondary to a husband's.' 'It's not just during the COVID crisis that those who provide health and social care in primary, secondary and independent services have been serving our community' she says. 'To stand outside and clap and then offer a below-inflation pay increase is an insult. The retention of health and care staff will be vital to meet the needs of those who have had delays in diagnostics and treatment, and a paltry 1 per cent does not offer much incentive to remain in nursing.' She then says, 'My apologies for the rant, but in 40 years I have never seen morale so low and I personally have never felt more patronised and insulted.'

Now, as I've said, I know Helen, and her commitment and dedication have been inspirational, and it makes me furious to hear how patronised and insulted she feels. And there are hundreds of Helens in all our constituencies—thousands of them in all our constituencies and regions across Wales. Nurse recruitment, of course, has never been a very major issue. There are so many people who are willing to serve and are willing to train, though there are challenges. But nurse retention has been an issue for a very long time, and there are a number of reasons for this. Lack of flexibility is one of them; limited opportunities for career progression another. But low wages are part of this picture. Adding to the almost unbearable strain of working under COVID conditions, I am really genuinely concerned that we will see a haemorrhage of these nurses and other skilled professionals out of our NHS to agency work, or out of health and care altogether, precipitated by unbearable working conditions and just ended up by this gross insult of a pay offer. That leaves me with real concern about the long-term sustainability of services. We know that we need to provide more services close to people's homes, but, if we don't have the professionals, how can we keep hospitals like Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli or Withybush Hospital in Pembrokeshire going and providing the excellent services that they do?

So, what is the Welsh Government response to this? Well, the bonus—very welcome, but none of the health and care staff that I've spoken to in the region I represent want just an occasional pat on the back. What they want and need is a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, week in, week out. And the Government's response to our motion? Well, it's the usual, 'delete almost everything, and everything we're doing is fine'. Well, it's not fine. To me, Llywydd, this is yet another example of why devolution may be better than nothing, but why it isn't enough. I firmly believe that the majority of Welsh people want to see our health and care staff properly and consistently rewarded.

But our health and care workers, despite health and care being devolved, are still subject to and distressed by the insulting rhetoric of a Conservative Government that we didn't vote for. And even if the Welsh Government wants to provide a more generous pay settlement, they may struggle to afford to do so. Angela Burns is right to say, of course, that this is a devolved matter, but there are questions of resource. Our health and care staff and those who use their services—all of us, Llywydd—deserve better. Sooner rather than later, we need to be an independent nation with a Government that can really and completely reflect our values and our priorities—decisions that affect us made by us. 

In the meantime, we must do all we can, including paying a minimum of £10 an hour to all care workers. After May, a Plaid Cymru Government will do just that. I commend the motion, unamended, to the Senedd.