Part of the debate – Senedd Cymru am 2:33 pm ar 28 Mawrth 2023.
I'd like to ask for a statement, please, setting out how the Government will urgently increase capacity in community hospitals. A few weeks ago, I raised concerns with the First Minister that ambulances were in effect being used as waiting rooms because of a lack of hospital beds. I've been contacted by a constituent this week whose story, I think, has highlighted another way in which that lack of beds is affecting patients, which is that a lack of capacity in community hospitals means people are being kept in hospitals further away from home for a longer period of time than is necessary. My constituent's wife, who has lung cancer, collapsed at home, and there were no ambulances, so he drove her to the Grange. After waiting for hours on a trolley, she was moved to another unit, but even after she was assessed and she was stable, she couldn't be released, because they were told that there were no beds available in Ystrad Mynach or in Ebbw Vale for her continued treatment and rehabilitation. My constituent said, 'It's real people's lives who are being blighted by this situation', and I agree with him. Could a statement please set out how the Government will get to grips with the serious lack of capacity in community hospitals that's delaying people getting to where they need to be?