Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. I want to start this by thanking everybody in this Chamber who has contributed to this very important debate today. This debate is of vital importance to the people of Wales. I know personally about this waiting list, because my mother had been waiting four years for a hip operation, in excruciating pain, but I'm pleased to say that she has now been treated.

As my colleagues Russell George, Rhun ap Iorwerth, Janet Finch-Saunders and others have said, NHS waiting lists now are longer than ever before. One in five people are on a waiting list. This affects people of all ages and all backgrounds and they're all being hugely, negatively affected by these backlogs. As Rhun said, the NHS was creaking under pressure before the pandemic began. Early delays, which were mentioned, have caused problems in the wider NHS and it has made pre-existing health conditions an awful lot worse, especially around cancer diagnosis. 

I was very pleased to see more investment going into the NHS. However, we do need to be assured that that additional investment will be spent on the front-line NHS and not lost in bureaucracy. We don't need anymore managers; what we need is more doctors, nurses and front-line health professionals to deal with the problem. More money goes into the NHS in Wales than in England. So, it's not the money that's the problem, it's the way that the NHS is managed. It was great to hear Altaf Hussain's very powerful contribution to this debate. I'm sure that everybody in this Chamber knows of your experience, Altaf, and you're very well respected, not just here, but across the world for your experience in the NHS and what you have done.

In my own constituency, residents face lengthy delay times. They don't have access generally to a district general hospital. We are seeing community support being reduced. Knighton Hospital in my community has seen the services cut back. We're seeing local wards close. Janet Finch-Saunders made the point about local community health, and if we are to sort the delayed transfers of care out, we need to make sure there are beds in our community hospitals for people to be transferred into.

We have previously discussed the damning report 'Waiting well?', which stated the impact of the waiting times backlog. It called for robust plans to be put in place. Whilst the Minister has announced a series of measures to tackle this, and I and many others welcome that statement that there are commitments in place, it's vitally important that the Government and this Senedd and relevant committees can scrutinise health boards to make sure they are delivering on their targets and that people aren't let off the hook.

Jenny Rathbone did say that this plan has only been in place for two weeks. But, I would just like to remind you that this Government has been in place for over 20 years, and it was creaking before, so you cannot blame the pandemic for everything. Things were going backwards before, so I'd like to ask the Minister to reflect on that and not blame everything on the pandemic. Yes, Jenny, I'll take an intervention.