Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I launched the Adferiad programme last June, a £5 million-package of services for people who are recovering from the long-term effects of COVID-19 in Wales, including long COVID. As part of that announcement, I said we would review the progress of the programme every six months. The first review has considered reports from each of the health boards and feedback from hundreds of people who have received care as part of the service from an all-Wales service evaluation, undertaken by Cedar research centre.

Before I turn to the results of the review, I want to say something about how services for people with long COVID are structured in Wales. We want care to meet people’s specific needs through services that are available as close to home as possible. If someone is struggling with the long-term effects of COVID-19, their first point of contact is their GP, who can quickly and easily refer them to local services, including rehabilitation services. Some people have also been referred into the system from other parts of the NHS. This includes people who have spent many weeks and even months in hospital being treated for COVID-19, although it's interesting to note that the majority of people being treated for long COVID were not admitted to hospital with their original COVID-19 illness.

The Adferiad programme has funded expanded and enhanced primary and community-based services in every health board, and we've developed a clear pathway to improve access and speed up referral to treatment where people need more specialist care. All services are provided in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. I had the privilege of meeting some of the healthcare professionals providing services and some of the people receiving services when I visited the long COVID team at Swansea Bay University Health Board last week.

The information we have from health boards is that the average waiting time for people to be seen in long COVID services is 23 days. This compares to the current 15-week waiting time for access to the specialist long COVID clinics that have been set up in areas of England. Data from Digital Health and Care Wales show that, by January, just over 2,400 people had been diagnosed with long COVID by their GP or healthcare professional in Wales, and 2,226 people were referred into our long COVID rehabilitation services in the last year. This number is smaller than the self-reported Office for National Statistics estimates of the number of people with long COVID in Wales, and we don't know yet what the long-term impact of omicron, the variant that is currently very prevalent in our communities that has affected so many people, will be on the number of people experiencing long COVID symptoms.

The COVID recovery app, which supports people to manage their own symptoms, has been downloaded more than 10,000 times. It is possible many people have found the app is helping them to manage their symptoms on a day-to-day basis. However, we know that some people, particularly those who developed COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic and are living with the long-term effects of their initial illness, have struggled to access the support they needed. I would urge them to seek help if their symptoms are impacting on their quality of life.

Llywydd, I want to turn now to what the first review of the Adferiad programme is telling us. The evaluation suggests services are supporting those people who have been seen and are undergoing treatment to improve their health outcomes. The model of locally delivered, integrated and multi-professional rehabilitation appears to be meeting the needs of our population. But we are not complacent, and we will continue to monitor, learn and improve services, making sure that we react to feedback from people who need and who use these services.

Our long COVID services provide assessment and access to a wide range of health professionals, treatments and rehabilitation.