I'm very grateful to be able to speak in today's debate, and I thank Rhun ap Iorwerth for bringing this forward, and I put my comments in line with the Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee as well.

If I may, I'd like to focus my comments, following a recent discussion with the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. The Royal College of Occupational Therapists have recently launched a report, 'Bridge to Recovery', and they are calling for fair access to occupational therapy expertise. This access, Llywydd, should be open, it should be appropriate, and fair to the population groups who have been known to experience reduced access to healthcare and services. I won't go through and repeat those groups we've already heard by many this afternoon.

But Llywydd, sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the impact of already existing health inequalities in my constituency and constituencies across Wales. The necessary lockdowns and measures we had to put in place to protect public health have also led to an increase in loneliness, an increase in isolation, an increase in substance misuse and domestic violence, and, if we look at those issues, it was particularly for those who were shielding. 

Now, as has been mentioned before today, this has resulted in an increase and an urgent need for urgent mental health support in primary care. Very early in the first lockdown, Llywydd, the occupational therapy service in north Wales proactively stepped forward and proactively acted to support primary care, reaching out to those who were shielding. This quickly grew into supporting individuals presenting at primary care with common mental health concerns. From this, a co-production project developed, linking occupational therapy services with the iCAN programme, an established programme led by mental health services in north Wales. 

The iCAN programme offered easier, earlier access to prevent and mitigate health inequalities, and I commend the iCAN programme and the co-production of that programme to this Senedd, and I also urge members of the health committee, and those off the health committee, to look at the report and its positive evaluation.

However, Llywydd, from these positive steps there is still an issue. Occupational therapy is still predominantly accessed through secondary and tertiary services, and it tends to focus on individuals rather than on populations. Access to occupational therapy services needs to be early, it needs to be easy, it needs to be across the lifespan, preventing the development of long-term difficulties and addressing some of the wider social detriments of health we already heard this evening. Services should be both universal, across all aspects of life, and targeted, shaped and placed according to the needs of the local population groups. 

Llywydd, I wish to see good practices like projects such as the iCAN project in north Wales replicated across the whole of Wales, and I urge Members to take part, and organisations to take part, in the Health and Social Care Committee's upcoming committee inquiry, an important step forward for health inequality in Wales. Diolch yn fawr.