Over the next hour, we will hear a number of examples of inequalities from my fellow Members as we try and paint a picture of the challenge that we are facing. The fact that so many different organisations have come together to push for a strategy tells us so much. And I'm grateful to many of them for their direct collaboration in preparing for today's debate. The Royal College of Psychiatrists argue that mental health is closely linked to many forms of inequality, including a lower standard of life, poorer health outcomes and early death. Platfform, the mental health charity, emphasised further that mental health is related to all sorts of inequalities. Depression is twice as prevalent among low-income groups. People who go hungry, who are in debt, or who live in low-quality housing are far more likely to suffer poor mental health. The British Heart Foundation Cymru underlines that systemic inequalities that previously existed have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and reflect a recent campaign by them—a campaign that I support—saying that women still face great disadvantage at every stage of their journey with heart disease. 

I am also grateful for the input of the Royal College of Physicians. They also emphasise how the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities and has demonstrated clearly the link between poverty and poor health outcomes. We know, incidentally, that the death rate in the most disadvantaged areas of Wales in this pandemic has been almost twice as high as that of more affluent areas. One in three people who needed intensive care treatment came from a BAME background. But what the Royal College of Physicians tells us, in looking at inequalities more broadly, is that we, for too long, have looked to the NHS to respond to the challenges that we face with public health. But of course, the NHS alone doesn't have the levers, as they describe it, to make the kind of changes that are required to create the necessary conditions to promote good health. To quote them: