Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to thank Plaid Cymru for allowing me another opportunity to set out what we're already doing to reform and support the NHS, at a time when it's under more pressure than it's ever been in its history. And I'm pleased to see that, many of the points set out in the resolution, we are already delivering on through a whole series of actions, and actions that we too have developed with medical groups, and front-line workers, and the kinds of organisations that you have clearly engaged with. So, we're probably speaking to the same people, which is why we've come up with many of the same conclusions. And, if we're honest, in terms of the headlines—and I think you only published this plan yesterday, so I haven't had a chance to look at the detail—in terms of the headlines, if we're honest, it's not very original, but I look forward to reading some of the details. 

Now, in the first point of the resolution, Plaid points to comments made by the Welsh NHS Confederation, which suggest that the Welsh NHS is facing pressures that cannot be coped with. And I'd just like to point out that the NHS has 2 million contacts a month in a population of 3.1 million. So, the vast majority of the people who have contact with the NHS are receiving a good service. And, I think it's really, really important that we don't lose sight of that, and that's why I won't accept that the NHS is in crisis. But, the NHS, the confederation were referring to a specific period of time over Christmas when demand has never been as high. But, on top of that, I think it's really important to point out that, when they stated this, their comments didn't relate solely to Wales, they referred to the pressures in the NHS, and the director said that these pressures were being seen across the UK, in Northern Ireland, in Wales and in England.

Now, we know that our health and care services are under pressure, and, my God, it was unrelenting pressure over Christmas. We have never seen flu rates as high since the swine flu pandemic back in 2010. COVID rates—I was just looking at the wastewater signals, and, at Christmas time, they were through the roof. And all of these things came together, which is why we had that really, really pressurised time over Christmas. And, of course, we had a lot of parents concerned about strep A. So, that explains the pressure and the pressure has diminished considerably. Now, we're not out of it. Cold weather has an impact, so, constantly, we're looking out for what's coming next. But, it is clear that the pressure that we saw over Christmas has diminished significantly. 

Now, the official statistics show that nearly 400,000 hospital consultations were carried out in November, and over 110,000 patient pathways were closed. That's an increase of 4.7 per cent from the previous month. And it's important to note that we are now back to pre-pandemic levels, which is quite incredible. Let's not forget, we're still in the pandemic, but we are back to pre-pandemic levels. Now, November also saw a second consecutive fall in the number of patients waiting to start treatment. We are continuing to make progress on the longest waits, and the number of pathways waiting longer than one year for their first out-patient appointment dropped by 10.3 per cent—so, that's for the third month in a row. 

Now, the period referred to by the Welsh NHS was an exceptional month, as I say, and the highest number of calls to 111, and the most red calls for immediately life-threatening calls to the ambulance service ever made. But the system improvements that we're driving forward at pace are making a difference, and without these improvements it's clear that the pressures on services would have been even greater.

Our health and care sector workers are continuing to work tirelessly in exceptional circumstances, and I'd like to join many in the Chamber today in applauding their heroic efforts. Now, I'm very aware of the pressure on workforce and I'd very much like to pay them more money. We've been around the whole of Government to reprioritise, to look at our budgets, to see if there's more that we can put on the table, and we have put money on the table to try and help the situation this year. But I'm not seeing any hands going up from Plaid Cymru saying, 'We're going to reprioritise the co-operation agreements.' [Interruption.] You have not. You have not made any effort to reprioritise your budgets. We've done it and you haven't. You go and explain that to the ambulance workers and the nurses, because you haven't done it. The offer has not been there and you need to go and explain that to all the people who you say are on the front line with you.