Now, there is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive detrimental impact on people living with and affected by some form of dementia. Ninety-five per cent of carers, in a survey conducted by the Alzheimer's Society, reported a negative impact on their mental or physical health. And really sadly—you know, it's hard to read these statistics out, but over a quarter of people who died with COVID-19 from March to June 2020 in the UK had dementia. So, it does bother me when the dementia action plan for Wales states:

'We need to further develop the links between care homes and community services and will expect the dementia "teams around the individual" to provide specialist and regular in-reach support to care homes. We are also encouraging GP practices to offer a new enhanced service for residential and nursing care in Wales.'

Now, that stemmed from—. Seventy-five per cent of care homes surveyed said that it's difficult because GPs are reluctant to actually visit residents there. So, the evidence indicates that care homes have not been receiving an enhanced service from GPs. So, I will be pleased to learn what steps the Welsh Government will take to address this.

This month, Meddyg Care has become the first care home group to establish an admiral nurse service in Wales. So, while other organisations have dementia advisers, who offer valuable guidance to people with the condition and their families, admiral nurses go beyond advice—they offer comprehensive specialist support and expertise for families and those living with the complexities of dementia. And reading on, I was further surprised to find that there are no admiral nurses in north Wales. So, Minister, I just wonder what review you could do as a Government to maybe help registered nurses become admiral nurses. This would be in line with the following outcome in the dementia action plan that says:

'Staff have the skills to help them identify people with dementia and to feel confident and competent in supporting individual's needs post-diagnosis.'

Admiral nurses can also help unpaid carers, as such nurses can equip them with stress-management techniques and coping strategies that can then help to make contact with respite services and provide specialist carer education and training. In fact, really, we shouldn't be seeing any delays now in implementing any steps that might see greater support offered to unpaid carers.

The sad thing is that 40 per cent of those feel unable to manage their caring responsibilities. Seventy-two per cent have not had any break during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 73 per cent have reported being exhausted as a result of caring during the pandemic. So, I agree with Carers Wales, Age UK, Carers Trust, Motor Neurone Disease Association, Oxfam GB and Rethink Mental Illness, who have called on the Welsh Government to ensure that our unpaid carers providing significant hours of care to patients with dementia—that they get the breaks they need.

Now, whilst I welcome the fact that the Welsh Government is providing £3 million this financial year to support emergency respite care and the development of a short breaks fund, I am aware that some unpaid carers are taking on further responsibilities. So, again, it's all down to this data—this important data we need—so that we can actually look—or you can look, as a Government—at how you can alleviate the pressures that they are feeling.

Finally, as Alzheimer's Society Cymru have highlighted, Wales is actually in a unique place, with access to dementia-specific funding and skilled researchers in the field. In addition to encouraging researchers to apply for funding under the dementia action plan, I want to see Welsh Government go further, such as by funding research into developing accurate diagnostic tools to ensure that people who receive a diagnosis of dementia can access the correct support immediately post diagnosis. I want to see the establishment of a national dementia data observatory, and also to ensure that post-diagnostic support for all types of dementia across Wales is funded.

I encourage you all to join with Luke Fletcher by backing what is an admirable motion. Thank you.