How many of us have been grateful for the care that a relative has received when they are ill? I'm certainly grateful for the care that two of my grandparents received during COVID. That care that we rely on wouldn't be possible, and the quality of the care wouldn't be as good, without nurses—nurses who are asked every shift to go the extra mile, who were asked to take an extra shift during the pandemic. The reality is that more than half of Wales's nurses are demoralised.

Leanne Lewis, a nurse in my region, a fellow Pencoed resident, has said publicly and to me how there is a genuine staffing crisis. She said staff are leaving in their droves. Leanne tells us that there is lots of staff sickness through burnout and post-COVID complications, and there is not the right skills mix on the wards. Like the majority of nurses—and that's 78 per cent of them, by the way—Leanne felt that patient care was being compromised.

It's one of the reasons why we've called for an extension to section 25B of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016. Previously, the Minister has said that section 25B is based on evidence, and that being grounded in evidence is what gives the Act its credibility, and that any call to extend section 25B neglects the foundation of the Act. Well, I would say that the evidence is there. It's overwhelming. It's there today in what nurses across the Welsh NHS are telling us. Hell, it was in the Tawel Fan report, back in September 2014. All of this has highlighted the seriousness of the situation. Our nurses are doing everything they can to mitigate the issues, but, like everyone, they can't be everywhere at once, no matter how much they want to be. 

What it comes down to is the need for better recruitment and retention. I come back to Leanne. She tells us that nurses are absolutely traumatised and fed up of not being able to give their patients the care they want to give, and the care that they deserve. 'It's heart-breaking', she tells us,

'to have colleagues phoning me after a shift in tears because they feel they haven't been able to provide the care they wish they could have due to not having the staff.'

Tawel Fan should have been a wake-up call for the Government, but the problems have persisted and worsened, and, as a result of the Government's inaction, the people who pay the price are staff and their patients. I would welcome in your response, Minister, if the Government is ready to extend section 25B.

Now, there have been repetitive calls on the Welsh Government to commit to valuing our nursing workforce. In June 2021, 16 organisations wrote to the First Minister to urge the Government to ensure safe nurse staffing and expand section 25B to mental health in-patient wards and community settings. In October 2021, health boards asked for more funding, resources and nurses in preparation for the extension to paediatric wards. And there were also fewer patient incidents in 2021, where nursing has been considered a factor on wards covered by section 25B, compared to 2019.

Strike action has come as a last resort, as it always does. No matter what industry you're in, nobody wants to strike. But Government inaction to address the situation has left RCN members feeling like they have no other option, for the first time in their over 100-year history. A recent YouGov poll in Wales showed that 85 per cent of the public support a pay rise for nurses. All of those people are potentially NHS Wales patients. Without a nursing workforce, the NHS cannot function. Without an above-inflation pay rise, improvements in service for patients will not be possible. So, I urge the Welsh Government to have open discussions with the RCN and to commit genuinely to raising nurses' pay.