Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd, and I'd like to thank everyone who has taken part in this debate this afternoon, and I really mean that. It's the first time, as a relatively new Member and in my short time, that you can actually hear a pin drop in this Chamber this afternoon, and I think that goes to show the seriousness of what we're talking about today. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing ambulance staff. They are having to work under unimaginable stress, and it's only thanks to their dedication and professionalism that Wales is not facing an even bigger crisis in emergency care.

As the many contributions to this afternoon's proceedings rightly point, Welsh ambulance services are at crisis point. Like many parts of our health and care services, the arrival of COVID-19 has deeply impacted Welsh ambulance services. However, the crisis in emergency and unplanned care predates the coronavirus pandemic. Long-term policy failings by Welsh Government and a fundamental lack of integrated workforce planning have led us to where we are today: an emergency in emergency care.

We will now likely see members of Her Majesty's armed forces having to operate on domestic soil to provide ambulance services in Wales. As my colleague Russell George pointed out in opening the debate, ambulance services are the canary in the mine. If patients are unable to go into hospital at times of urgent need, then there is clearly a wider problem and the health service is at risk of collapse. How many times have we dodged a bullet solely thanks to our amazing health and care staff, staff who are overworked and overstressed, yet pull out all the stops to ensure that health and care services don't grind to a halt? We know full well that the crisis in emergency care does lie with the Welsh ambulance service as a result of issues elsewhere in the system.

Ambulance crews are losing tens of thousands of hours waiting to hand over those in their care. Sadly, a load of ambulances stacked up outside our A&E departments is a common occurrence. While those crews are waiting outside emergency departments, they are not able to respond to emergency calls. Patients can't be handed over because there are no available beds. Often, there are no available beds in our hospitals because patients can't be discharged due to bottlenecks in social care. The health Minister admitted recently that patients are unable to be discharged, due—[Interruption.] I will give way, Mike, yes.