Healthcare, unfortunately, in the Vale of Clwyd, is a real mess and has been for many, many years now, as successive Labour Governments have failed to get a grip on recruitment issues. You only have to look at the Betsi Cadwaladr website. I think, currently, it's about seven or eight pages of job vacancies, and most of them, to be honest, are front-line staff who make the change to people's lives day in, day out. We're very good at creating managers and red tape in the NHS, but really bad at putting staff on the front line.

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, as I said yesterday, used to be one of the best hospitals in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and the 1990s, until the Welsh Government got their hands on it. Now the hospital needs external, clinical and organisational development expertise in order to provide a safe working environment and safe treatment for my constituents.

The issues facing healthcare in the Vale of Clwyd are not new, they have existed ever since Jane Hutt's disastrous reorganisation almost 20 years ago, and Edwina Hart's reorganisation in 2009. It has caused many to question whether the creation of Wales's largest health authority was a sensible approach, to ask whether Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is fit for purpose. After all, the board has required some form of Government intervention for most of its life. It spent five years in special measures before it was taken out of direct Government intervention just before the last election, as Sam Rowlands alluded to in opening the debate, a move of political expedience rather than a sign that everything was rosy at the top. I know from personal experience it wasn't, as I worked for Betsi Cadwaladr for 11 years, between 2010 and 2021, when I was elected to the Senedd. I worked in YGC, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, for many of those years, and many of my friends still do. We knew things were wrong at the top, yet, despite the culture and bad leadership, our patients continued to get excellent care. But fewer and fewer people wanted to come and work for what they perceived to be a failing health board, because it doesn't exactly look good on the CV, if you're looking for some career progression, that you've been employed by a failing health board for many a year. So, the problems became entrenched as there were fewer and fewer staff working on the front line, and the pressures placed upon staff became unbearable and unsustainable. And that's when patient safety starts to suffer, really.

My mailbag is overflowing with issues from YGC and, like I've said before, Minister, you're more than welcome any time to come up to my office and view my inbox to see what I deal with every day, and I'm sure Darren in Clwyd West and Sam Rowlands, Mark Isherwood, Janet Finch-Saunders all have the same experience, and other Members too of other parties. One of the most recent cases I had was a constituent that had a fall at home just before 10.00 a.m. They were advised by ambulance call handlers to remain on the cold floor for ambulance attendance, despite advice that the ambulance would take an hour. An ambulance only arrived at 3.30 in the afternoon, but its lifting aid was not functioning. A further ambulance arrived an hour later. Paramedics advised that although they did not suspect any fractures or bleeds, her blood pressure and blood sugar were now so low that, after so much time on the floor, she would therefore require hospital admission. After arrival at the hospital, a further six hours passed before admission into YGC. The patient was eventually moved to the acute medical unit ward. Finally, the family received a call three days late advising them to come to the hospital quickly. They arrived too late—their family member had sadly passed away. It was therefore of little surprise to me when the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales report was released. It was still shocking. The most damning line in the report points to the crux of the problem—leaders for the department had attempted to raise concerns about issues of patient safety, however these had not been listened to or acted on.

The fish rots from the head, and the stench from Betsi is overpowering. We need urgent change at the top, and the measures outlined by the Minister yesterday is just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. We need a new approach, not more of the same, which is why I'll be supporting Plaid's amendment today, and I urge colleagues to follow suit. Thank you very much.