Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:21 pm on 1 December 2021.
Thanks very much, Alun, and there's no question that the ambulance service has been under huge pressure, and of course none of these things live in isolation from each other. I think it probably is worth emphasising that, actually, in terms of 999 calls, for example, this October has seen a 24 per cent increase compared to last October. So, it's not just about them not performing well; they're trying to deal with a massive increase in demand, and so I do think we have to understand what is happening here. What we're trying to do is to make sure that the Welsh ambulance service are getting much better at forecasting, that they implement the requirements of the independent demand and capacity review, which looked at the way things were managed, and that we're directing people to clinically safe alternatives to try and dissipate some of that 24 per cent. But you'll be aware that we've already injected £25 million of additional funding into trying to sort out this problem over the winter months; that, since October, 100 military colleagues have been providing support for the Welsh ambulance service; and the trust is committed to recruiting a further 127 staff this year. So, all of these things, I'm hoping, will start to make a difference soon. Obviously, it needs to be sooner rather than later, because we're just about to enter the even more pressurised winter months. So, we're more than aware of the need to fix this problem sooner rather than later.