I'm very pleased to take part in this important debate today. I think all Members are very conscious of the value of palliative care and end-of-life services in their own areas, and that certainly is the case with me. I'm very familiar with St David's Hospice Care; we're fortunate in Newport and around to have a really top-quality end-of-life and palliative care service through St David's Hospice Care. It's a consultant-led, in-patient hospice, with a 15-bed unit, and that can support people who have complex symptom-management needs and, obviously, provide that end-of-life care and sometimes, respite care. And the average length of stay there is, in fact, two weeks. Patients from Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen, as well as mid and south Powys, are catered for by the hospice. And, of course, what very many people really do value is the care at home that enables people to die with dignity, as other Members have said, at home, and as we know, that is the choice for very many people—to die in the comfort of their own home, surrounded by their own family. And St David's Hospice provides the quality services that enables that to happen.

I know that there are, of course, issues at the current time, and St David's Hospice has 18 nurses on permanent contracts. They pay their nurses the same rate as NHS nurses, and, of course, if NHS nurses' pay is increased, there will be major challenges for the hospice to do the same. So, I do think that we need to look at how we can support hospices like St David's in those circumstances, and also, with regard to annual energy bills—for St David's, a year ago, it was £125,000; it is now around £400,000 a year. So, obviously, a very substantial increase, and, again, an obvious need for support with those costs.

Llywydd, Tŷ Hafan is also a very much-loved charity that provides life-changing care and support for children with life-shortening conditions, and, of course, their families. They provide those specialist services in a very comfortable and welcoming environment, and they very much work with the whole family, assessing the needs of parents, siblings, and other family members, as well as the children with the particular conditions. And it's about offering personalised support, to give strength to patients and family, and to make happy memories and improve quality of life. Since they opened in 1999, they've actually supported over 1,100 children with life-shortening illnesses.

And I think we're also lucky in Wales, Llywydd, to have some good work taking place on these end-of-life services. Members have spoken about the expected increase in the need for end-of-life care as part of the ageing society that we have, and I think quite a lot of work has been done around that. The Institute of Welsh Affairs, for example, looked at dying well in Wales, and of the 34,000 people who die in Wales each year, at least 75 per cent would benefit from some form of palliative care, but, for many different reasons, 25 per cent of these people will not have access to the care and support they need. In the context of the increasing demand we know we're going to see, we really need to get to grips with that situation. And we also have the national bereavement care pathway, which is a model specification developed to improve access to high-quality bereavement care, and to reduce local and national inconsistencies. I think that really does bear close examination in terms of what's suggested to have top quality care in place right across our country.

Llywydd, in conclusion, palliative care is massively valued by those benefiting from these vital services and their families and friends, and we must continue to work with hospices in Wales to give them every support for these crucial services.