Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:56 pm on 7 July 2021.
I want to finish, Llywydd, if I may, by turning to long COVID. It's a huge concern for me. I have huge concerns about young people, if truth be told, at the moment, as restrictions are relaxed. We'll have an opportunity to discuss that again. But I want to look specifically at the impact of long COVID on the health and care workforce. From my work as joint chair of the cross-party group on long COVID, I see that an incredible percentage of the people I speak to are people who have fallen ill as a result of their work in health and care. We need to look at this. We need to provide support to them, and I want to know what the Government will do to support them, because they deserve that support for the work that they have done and the fact that they put themselves in harm's way during this pandemic. But if we look at the recovery work, will the Minister tell us what she is going to do in order to push for assurances that these people get the support they need to return to the workplace, because we need to ensure that our workforce is fully staffed, and sufferers of long COVID within the health and care service want to return to work to do what they've been trained to do? We can't wait any longer for an assurance that treatment will be provided to the high number, I fear, of workers who are suffering in this way, and that they will be treated fairly.