Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:18 pm on 14 September 2021.
Diolch yn fawr. Thank you, Jane, and lovely to see you back, as it is to see so many people back, and it's great to see a few more people in the Chamber.
I would like to extend my thanks, as you've extended yours, to the incredible vaccination teams we have, up and down the country, who have done a truly magnificent job, and I hope they're all ready to go at it again with the enthusiasm that they have in the past. It's been slightly frustrating, if I'm honest, to have been at the front of the pack, although we know it wasn't a race, but we were at the front of the pack and then having to wait for this decision from the JCVI. But we will get up and running as soon as we can.
I did note the comments of the chair of the Hywel Dda health board also, talking about the perfect storm, and I think she's correct to describe this storm that is hitting our NHS at the moment as the perfect storm, noting of course, some of the points that you've made, that there are real recruitment issues; that there are real staffing issues; that there are issues in terms of people who've been waiting a long time for surgery; people who have acute illnesses. So, there are all kinds of issues that are hitting our health boards currently, and, of course, we need to stand by them. And the best way we can stand by them is by making sure that the constituents that we represent actually do their very best to try and avoid going to A&E or to GP surgeries unless they have to, because the pressure is genuinely intense at the moment. Of course, those services do remain open always for emergencies, and I'd just like to underline that as well.
In terms of recovery plans, of course we do have a broad recovery plan that we had set out before the election. It's very difficult to get going with that recovery plan if you keep on getting battered by another wave, but, of course, we will keep an eye on those and we'll update those where necessary.
In terms of the working relationship with the UK Government, let's just say it ebbs and flows. So, I do have fairly regular meetings with the Minister of the four nations of the UK, in particular in relation to health. I think the messages, if I were honest, I think ours are slightly stricter, I hope, to the Welsh public, just to make sure that they do understand the very real dangers of the spread of COVID at the moment within our communities. But, ultimately, we've got to understand that we are very interconnected as a nation, and what happens in England is likely to have an impact on us here in Wales. So, we do need those rates in England to come down, as we do need them to come down in Wales.