Part of the debate – Senedd Cymru am 6:20 pm ar 29 Mawrth 2023.
Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I thank the cross-party group for their work and this report? Of course, I particularly thank Mark Isherwood, as the chair. Perhaps if I start by summarising, perhaps, Mark Isherwood's opening comments—his 11-minute opening—which outlined the brief points in the report. Hospice and palliative care played a critical role in the pandemic response, supported by a wave of community engagement and action, but the massive increase in demand for care in the community revealed perhaps weaknesses in pre-pandemic planning. Many people faced difficulties in accessing end-of-life care at home and in care homes, increasing the existing inequalities that already lay there as well—something that I know we focus a great deal on in the Health and Social Care Committee—and often, of course, with devastating experiences.
It is important to say as well, I think as Sam Kurtz pointed out as well, health and social care workers went above and beyond during the pandemic to support patients and their families at end of life, and our gratitude sincerely goes to them.
To summarise some of the other points in the debate today—. Before I do move off Mark Isherwood, I should really thank Mark Isherwood for his role in chairing this cross-party group. The cross-party group has got a large number of members from right across this Chamber, cross party, and nearly all cross-party groups that are successful are supported by a secretariat, and our thanks as well to Hospice UK for their support to the group as well.
Rhun mentioned, of course, forward planning ahead of the pandemic, highlighting that point as well, and, along with a few other Members—I think it was Peredur as well as Rhun—talked about the amount of support needed for children’s hospices across Wales, with Peredur mentioning the issues around inflationary costs and the extra pressure in that regard.
I thank John Griffiths for his contribution. I think it’s so important, isn’t it, that care at home can be in comfortable surroundings with family around. This is important for all parts of Wales, but I suppose particularly for me as a rural constituency representative, it's all the more important that those facilities are available in the home setting because other options are often far away from home.
I thank other colleagues as well who spoke in the debate. I know Altaf and Joel James spoke as well; Altaf pointing out, I think, how one in 14 people, I think it was, sadly pass away in A&E.
I think today we've had—. This is the last debate before the Easter recess and we’ve had two other Welsh Conservative debates—one today and one last week—that didn’t reach consensus, but I am grateful to the Welsh Government and the Deputy Minister for not seeking to amend the motion today and I think indicating support for the motion as well. That’s really greatly appreciated, and I think a positive note to end on ahead of the Easter recess.