As it stands now, even before the pandemic struck, thousands were waiting over a year for treatment. In fact, that doubled in the year before the pandemic. A&E and ambulance services were already feeling the strain each winter, and the NHS workforce was already facing significant challenges and shortages. So, unfortunately, now, we've got the equivalent of one in five of the Welsh population on a waiting list. In emergency care, a record-breaking one in three patients are expected to wait more than four hours to be seen in A&E, and ambulance response time targets have not been met for nearly two years. These are, of course, harrowing statistics, but behind every stat are, of course, real people, who desperately need the Government's latest recovery plan to work, and I hope it does. It's important, as an opposition, that we highlight the Government's failures, but that we also come forward with solutions ourselves, and that's what I will do later in this debate today.

One of the big issues that urgently needs addressing is the issue around delayed transfers of care. No doubt, of course, this has all been exacerbated by the pandemic, but there were long-standing problems that existed well before that pandemic hit. Delayed transfers of care are not just again stats; behind every delayed transfer of care is a person who has not received the care and support they need to enable them to return home or to move into appropriate accommodation. Family members and unpaid carers are being put in the impossible position of leaving their loved ones in hospital longer than is necessary, or taking on further caring responsibilities that they may not necessarily be equipped to cope with, often at the detriment to their own health and well-being. For there to be 1,000 people in hospital beds, when they could have been discharged, is totally unacceptable.

Of course, it's well documented that remaining in hospital longer than is necessary is detrimental to the patient, particularly older patients, and being discharged without the appropriate support in place places unreasonable demands on families and presents risks to the safety of the individual, increasing the likelihood of readmission—so, not breaking that cycle. We've got unprecedented pressures, of course, on the health and social care workers, and unpaid carers as well, and I think, of course, they should be thanked for all that they have done and they continue to do. Another issue, though, here as well is the poor communication, the lack of integration and joined-up working, amongst some of the other issues that have to be tackled if we want to see improvements in patient flow through our hospitals in Wales. 

Shockingly, national performance against the 62-day cancer waiting times target remains significantly below where it should be, and, prior to the pandemic, Wales already had poor waiting times for routine treatments. It's worrying to know that cancer waiting times have not been met since 2008. Furthermore, waiting times for key cancer diagnosis targets are still substantially large, despite progress in recent months, and the Welsh Government targets that patients wait a maximum of eight weeks for diagnosis remain unmet. 

There are some areas that I do welcome some progress from the Government on. I welcome the fact that the Government has started on regional surgical hubs, something I've long called for, of course. I also welcome the fact that we had the recovery plan in April. But, so far—I hope the Minister can tell me I'm wrong on this—we've only seen details for those surgical hubs rolled out in south Wales. So, can I ask the Minister to give us a timetable on when we're going to see those surgical hubs rolled out across the rest of Wales? When are they going to be fully mobilised? It's really important, of course, for those suffering with other conditions and long COVID, and, of course, again, it will free up the pressure from hospitals.

I said I'd provide some solutions myself also. Certainly we need to improve access to primary care appointments and change current guidance on telephone triage. This will reduce the number of patients presenting themselves to A&E. We need to redouble efforts on rapid recruitment of paramedics. I appreciate the Welsh Government has announced 136 new recruits, and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust is committed to recruiting a further 127 this year. However, it's got to be key that the Welsh Government provides support for rapid recruitment to cover any potential gaps. Mobilise members of the public and former healthcare professionals to join their local NHS team as part-time reservists to support the NHS during periods of high demand. Establish routes of support for NHS staff and care workers and families who have experienced trauma through the pandemic. Set a plan and timetable to raise wages of care workers. This will provide, of course, care workers with the security they need, and will also potentially keep more workers within the sector to help with hospital discharge. That's a key element that needs to be addressed. Also, clear and regular communications with patients on waiting lists, as well as available mental health support and a public health campaign to ensure cancer diagnoses are caught earlier.

We can't just look to the short term. This is why I'd suggest plans for the long term, which would include focusing on the time for treatment, so ambulances and hospitals work closer to deliver timely care. I'd also suggest developing a clear, clinically led plan for Welsh NHS to clear the waiting list backlog, and utilising cross-border and independent facilities as well. And not forgetting COVID-19, we should aim to establish long-COVID clinics to support people experiencing the long-term effects of COVID-19. I also think we need to build upon the 10-year health and social care workforce plan by introducing a recruit, train and retain plan across the whole of the health and social care sector. We need to significantly increase the number of doctors and nurses and care workers, through, for example, a nursing apprenticeship scheme also. That's how we do that. 

But the Labour Government here needs to get a grip, I think, on the NHS, stop breaking all the wrong rules and the wrong records, and I would suggest that the Labour Government concentrate on making sure that the right records are not broken and get a grip, really, on the NHS, as we go forward. I'm hoping that we'll have some solutions from the Minister today, but I move the motion in the name of my colleague Darren Millar.