Can I thank Plaid Cymru for tabling this motion today, and as Welsh Conservatives we'll be supporting the motion as it's tabled? The health service is in crisis, and they are serious words. When you are declaring a health crisis in Wales, they are serious words that you've got to think carefully about before stating them, and talking about mismanagement—serious words—but that is exactly the position we're in. And for the reasons that Rhun ap Iorwerth has outlined, you've got to recognise a problem in order to be able to move forward, as Rhun put it very well in his opening comments. 

I don't underestimate the challenge that you have, Minister, and there are huge pressures still to come, we're in the middle of winter, we've got worse months to come, and I'm under no illusion of the difficult pressures. There are difficult pressures in health services right across Europe, right across the UK. There are challenges in the NHS in every part of the country, and of course I recognise that. But we're in a worse and a more significant position in Wales. We've got the slowest ambulance response times on record, the longest treatment waiting list and the worst A&E waits in Britain. That is fact and that's what we've got to recognise. 

We've had some discussion about agency nursing in recent contributions, and it was very much mentioned in the Chamber yesterday, Minister, but agency staff have doubled in the last five years—doubled—costing the Welsh NHS £260 million in 2022 alone. The number of agency staff employed had risen by an unsustainable 36 per cent by 2021. So, I think the Welsh Government has really got to get to grips with this in particular, and I recognise that the Minister recognises that also. And, of course, I heard the First Minister say yesterday that this isn't something that can be done overnight. Yes, of course, I know that, but the point is it should have started five years ago. The workforce challenges that we have have been there for some time. 

As opposition parties in this Chamber, our job is to scrutinise, our job is to hold you, Minister, to account, but it's also to come forward with policy positions and how we could resolve some of the issues, and to put those to you, Minister. Now, I'm going to mention surgical hubs; you're going to have your hand on your head again and say, 'Oh no, he's going to go on about surgical hubs all over again.' But I'm happy to move on that conversation, Minister, as well. To me, I don't particularly care what something is called; it's about outcomes, and I know you agree with that as well.

But the outcomes at the moment, the position that we're in, is that two-year waits have virtually been wiped out in England and Scotland, and in Wales, we still have 55,000 people waiting over two years for treatment. That is the position. I know, Minister, you often say, 'Well, we're in a different position here, we've got an older and sicker population', but surely—surely—that's what devolution is about. If we can't have different policies and tailoring to the demographics of our nation, what on earth is devolution for? We've got to have different policy positions in order to deal with the challenges that we have.

And on specialist hubs, yes, I understand what you outlined yesterday, Minister, but the point is, if you have a specialist surgical hub in south Wales, that is an eight-hour round trip for somebody in north Wales. So, I would suggest that the model that is in England, where you have not specialist, but general surgical hubs, is better for a country that is more rural, and most health boards across Wales should have a surgical hub.

We've also outlined, Minister, our GP access plan for doctors. People need to see doctors in order to take the pressure off the NHS. There's more of a role for pharmacists to play in order to reduce the burden on our GPs. Modernising tech, supporting our GPs in that. But on technology, we've also put forward our NHS tech bundle, designed to modernise health services and bring them into line with the rest of the UK. E-prescriptions: we're still miles behind on e-prescriptions. We really should be getting on with this by now and keeping up with the rest of the UK. Developing an NHS app: that is available in other parts of the UK, not in Wales. And abolishing fax machines in our health boards. How are we still using fax machines in our Welsh NHS?

So, Minister, being the Minister in Wales for health is not an easy job, especially if you're a Labour Minister constantly being undermined by the Labour opposition in Westminster. So, I would say that there is no party that has the monopoly on ideas, and I hope that, across all political parties in this Chamber, we can constructively put ideas to you, Minister, for consideration. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.