It's a pleasure to take part in this debate this afternoon, as I worked in Betsi Cadwaladr for 11 years and I worked for four years in mental health as a support worker, so I'd like to consider this topic of debate fairly close to my heart. Although the Holden report is focused on the failings of the Hergest unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, it has implications for patients right across north Wales, and it serves as a chilling reminder for many of my constituents of the failings at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan and the Royal Alexandra in Rhyl.

It has been 11 years since the first inspections at the Glan Traeth ward at the Royal Alex and seven years since the publication of the Ockenden review, which was triggered as a result of serious failings on the Ablett unit at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, yet many of my constituents feel that, despite a string of reviews and years in special measures, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board management are failing patients and staff who work for the health board.

Just before the pandemic, the Senedd's Public Accounts Committee highlighted staffing issues at the health board. They flagged the lack of progress on implementing the recommendations of both the Health and Social Care Advisory Service review and the Ockenden review. The committee also cast doubt on the ability to get the health board out of special measures. However, at the height of the pandemic, and months before the Senedd elections, the health board was taken out of special measures, as Janet Finch-Saunders and Sam Rowlands alluded to, much to the surprise of patients and staff across north Wales—so, read between the lines on that one.

There continue to be grave concerns about mental health provision across the health board. Three quarters of children and young people across the region wait longer than the recommended 28 days for an assessment. We know only too well that the pandemic has had a shocking impact on the mental health of young people across Wales, yet those living in my constituency continue to be served by a failing service, one that has been talked about for decades but continues to fail those it serves despite the best efforts of our amazing NHS staff, who go above and beyond their duties on a daily basis—staff who continue to be overworked and undervalued by senior management, and, sadly, it's not just mental health services in north Wales that are suffering. Staff shortages continue to put patient safety at risk—so much so that doctors at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd were forced to write to the health board warning about overcrowding and day-long waits for patients to be seen. Doctors warned that emergency departments were so crowded that time-critical interventions in sepsis, stroke, cardiac care, major trauma and resuscitation are compromised.

My constituents are rightly concerned about how the NHS is being run in north Wales. The serious failures at the mental health unit are just the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately. We need urgent reform of mental health care across Betsi Cadwaladr, and I urge Members to support our motion, but I also ask the Welsh Government this afternoon to get to grips with the growing crisis in our accident and emergency departments. Thank you.