Secondly, to ensure a 24/7 local authority-led social care discharge service. We also know that issues with hospital discharge and a lack of social care spaces are leading to bottlenecks within the wider system, with a knock-on-effect to A&E and ambulance services. Establishing localised 24/7 discharge schemes would speed up assessments and support patients to go home sooner with the right package of care, or into an appropriate social care facility. To support this, there must be far better collaboration, integration and data sharing between all aspects of the health and social care system; something that stakeholders have pointed out must improve.

We also know that access to community care needs to be improved across the country, especially on weekends. For example, the Motor Neurone Disease Association Cymru have highlighted that, in north Wales, access and referral to occupational therapists is often unclear and inconsistent. And so we need to develop a health system that enables people to be treated closer to home, such as a 'hospital at home' service, as called for by the RCP. This would help to reduce hospital admissions and give people more choice as to where they can be treated.

We also need a longer term rethink as to how we deliver social care on a scale that meets the needs of an older population, including greater investment into facilities to increase capacity. And there are some existing innovative ideas that could be scaled up to help create a more sustainable social care sector, such as care communities led by local authorities in collaboration with social care providers, building on local IT platforms. We have massive potential within our communities to tap into existing human capital; we saw it through COVID, didn’t we—that members of the community can be mobilised to help provide basic care to neighbours, with social care staff freed up to focus on more specialist tasks.

Recruiting and retention: we have, of course, spoken at length about staffing recruitment and retention issues within the health and social care systems in the Senedd, but it’s a vital issue that needs to be addressed. We simply cannot do what we want to do without a properly staffed and equipped health service. Therefore, I back calls from BMA Cymru for the Welsh Government to increase the number of GPs in training. There must also be more accessible information on vacancy data from health boards and trusts so that we can better understand the needs and pressures faced by staff, and take a more focused approach to training and recruitment. Such a policy must come hand in hand with a properly funded national workforce implementation plan for health and social care, and to ensure synergies between this plan and the national clinical framework. As I’m sure we all agree, there must be parity between the health and social care workforces. Social care staff—sorry, I just think I’ve lost the—. That’s rather annoying. Right, so I’ve just lost a page that was quite an important one, and for some reason, it has disappeared. [Interruption.] Thank you very much. There we are; good supporting staff. So, we need to recognise that there needs to be parity between those two areas and the social care sector needs better pay and conditions, and more training routes for staff, such as through a national academy for care.

Creating a more modern and transparent NHS: it’s also important that people have a greater say in their care, and have access to more information, so that they know who is accountable to them, and how. NHS health boards and trusts must work together regionally across organisational boundaries to establish a more joined-up approach to the delivery of services, and legislation could be considered to ensure that this happens. There is also need a re-evaluate and streamline NHS structures so that there is a greater focus on delivery and quality rather than on bureaucracy to speed up the delivery of change. 

And finally, more focus on prevention. Ultimately, the way to ensure a more resilient, sustainable health and social care system is by investing and focusing on prevention. Reducing demand for services and helping people to stay healthier for longer is especially important as people continue to, thankfully, live a lot longer. The RCP have called for improved access to prevention programmes based in primary and community care, especially for those living in poverty, and greater investment in innovation, including screening and vaccination programmes. 

Deputy Llywydd, I hope that the Members and the Minister will take my contribution in the constructive manner I intended it to be made. Of course, I don't have all of the answers, and I know that the Minister and her officials will be working hard to respond to some of the challenges that I've set out today, but we need to know from the Government about what progress is being made and how their actions are translating into real-terms service improvements that patients can see and feel. The general public need to know what they can expect to see improve and when they're going to see it. I look forward to hearing the other contributions from Members today. Thank you very much.