Our debate today is couched in that way. It's about support for the ambulance service and making sure that they receive the support that they need from the Welsh Government. But, be in no doubt: the ambulance service is in crisis. It's not just in near-crisis. It's in crisis now, and it has been in crisis for some months. We need immediate action from the Welsh Government to support the ambulance service and also to ensure that the people of Wales get the ambulance service that they deserve and need.

Now, I think that the Government first of all need to accept that the ambulance service is in crisis. You can't resolve a problem unless you accept that there is a problem. Now, I hope that this Chamber will know that I am not somebody who throws around statements and words easily; I choose my words carefully. So, I stand by that: the ambulance service is in a crisis.

In my own case, in a constituency issue, recently, a constituent was asked by the ambulance service themselves to take their family member with a suspected heart attack to hospital themselves. Now, I say that we've been in crisis not just now, but for some months, and I stand by that. Because we know that, in July of this year, 400 people across Wales were waiting for more than 12 hours for an ambulance—hundreds of people waiting for more than 12 hours for an ambulance. In the past, in this Chamber, we may have raised cases with Ministers, and Ministers may have said, 'Send me the examples.' We've gone beyond that. These are examples that are happening every single day throughout Wales, sadly.

Now, I was only speaking to the Stroke Association earlier today, and they were discussing the latest figures from the sentinel stroke national audit programme. Scotland's not a member of the programme, so there's no comparison there. We know how critical it is, don't we—we know how crucial it is—to make sure that, from the onset of stroke symptoms, you get to hospital. Now, the latest figures tell us—. And this is from the onset of symptoms to not just getting to the hospital, but getting to the right facility, so this is not just about the ambulance service; this takes into account some of the wider issues. From the onset of symptoms to getting to the appropriate place in hospital, in England, the latest figures say that the time is three hours, 25 minutes; in Northern Ireland, it's three hours, 23 minutes; and, in Wales, it's five hours, 17 minutes. Now, I welcome the Government's stroke quality statement today. However, the Government's own statement today emphasises the need for rapid treatment for stroke—but it's not happening.

My colleague Paul Davies was outlining in First Minister's questions yesterday his concerns about proposed cover being reduced in Pembrokeshire for ambulance services. Reducing cover for the ambulance service is not something that should be being discussed or debated at this time. That's not appropriate, not when we're in the position that we're in. Now, the First Minister dismissed Paul Davies's comments yesterday, but Paul Davies was relaying comments that were raised to him by constituents, by ambulance service staff on the front line.

Now, in terms of the amendments today, we will support the amendment from Plaid. We agree, of course, that the integration of services is important, and we of course agree with the additional staff that are required within the NHS. We won't, of course, be supporting the Government's amendment today. I'm disappointed. Disappointingly, it's a 'delete all' motion.

Now, our motion today sets out our thanks for our paramedics and ambulance staff, and it sets out a number of factual positions of where we are at, which I don't think that the Government will deny—if so, let's hear them today. So, why is it that the Government could not have supported our motion as tabled today?

As an opposition party, we do want to bring forward some constructive suggestions today to the Government. We've done so in our motion. There are short- and long-term issues that need to be addressed. So, first of all, the use of Her Majesty's armed forces to help support the ambulance service—I am pleased that we suggested this in our motion last week, and that's been brought forward. The Government have made that request, so I'm pleased that that is the position. But I don't think that anyone should be in any doubt that this action will resolve the issues that we’re facing in the ambulance service, because, of course, it won’t. There are other actions that are needed as well. First of all, we need to improve access to primary care appointments and change the current guidance to telephone triage. Secondly, we need to redouble our efforts for rapid recruitment of paramedics, and I know that Welsh Government has announced 136 new recruits for this financial year, and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust has committed to a further 127 this year also. However, in the light of the looming winter pressures, and we haven’t had a statement yet on winter pressures, the Welsh Government needs to provide support for rapid recruitment to cover any potential gaps. Thirdly, we need to mobilise members of the public and former healthcare professionals to join their local NHS teams. Fourthly, we need to establish routes of support for NHS staff, care workers and families who have experienced the trauma of the pandemic. And fifthly, we need to set out a plan and timetable to raise the wages of care workers, as we called for also in our manifesto earlier this year.

Then there are a number of medium- and long-term plans that need to be addressed also: we need to focus on the time-to-treatment for patients, we need to develop a clear plan for the Welsh NHS to clear the waiting list backlog, which has deteriorated during the pandemic, utilising cross-border and independent facilities as well as COVID-lite hubs to speed up treatment. We need to establish long COVID clinics to support people experiencing long-term effects of COVID, and we need to build upon the 10-year plan and social care workforce plan to introduce a plan across the whole of the health and social care sector. We need to expand the role of occupational therapists as part of the wraparound care to maintain patient independence. We need to promote independent living, offering online self-assessments to support the early identification of support needs, and we need to establish a fund for care innovation to promote joint working between the NHS and social care.

I commend our plan to the Senedd today, and I very much call on all Senedd Members to support our motion today as tabled. Diolch yn fawr.