Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:32 pm on 10 January 2023.
Thanks very much. Well, I'm glad that you recognise that there are lots of people who are ready for discharge. It's very interesting that your leader earlier was saying, 'Actually, just be very careful about when you do ask people to leave who are medically fit for discharge.' So, it's about risk, isn't it? It's about where the risk is, and what's important for us is that we do get people out who are ready for discharge and who do have that support at home, so that we can get people who are in urgent need of support in through the front door. And, of, course, I think we all recognise that there is a need for fundamental reform when it comes to social care.
When it comes to winter packages, well, welcome to the party, UK Government. We've been doing this for months—we've been doing this for months. We put £25 million on the table last April to prepare for this, because what we were told time and again was: 'Don't give us that money—' . What usually happens is that it's given in September, which is too late—September is too late. They put that money on the table yesterday. There is no way that they're going to get people—. And you try and find those beds, because, I tell you what, we've been doing it week after week after week. We have been buying up that capacity in care already, in care homes. That's what we've been doing—these 500 beds in the community. That is precisely what we've been doing. So, it's a lovely idea; it's a shame that they didn't think about it earlier, because we are on it, we're delivering it, and I think it's going to take a lot longer—. In fact, they made an announcement in September that they were going to produce 7,000 of these. They've hardly scratched the surface of that, so this is really a rehash of a UK Government announcement that they made in September.