15-11-2016
Questions to the First Minister (not asked in Plenary)
The Implementation of Rent Smart Wales
Janet Finch-Saunders
12. Will the First Minister make a statement on the implementation of Rent Smart Wales? OAQ(5)0265(FM)
Carwyn Jones Y Prif Weinidog / The First Minister
As we approach the end of the first year of the scheme, nearly 50,000 private landlords have registered. Another 11,000 or so have already started the registration process. The first year has been light touch, focusing on awareness raising. From next week, the focus will be on compliance.
16-11-2016
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Older People Senedd.tvFideo Video
Detholwyd y gwelliannau canlynol: gwelliannau 1, 2 a 3 yn enw Jane Hutt, a gwelliannau 4, 5, 6 a 7 yn enw Rhun ap Iorwerth. Os derbynnir gwelliant 3, bydd gwelliannau 4, 5, 6 a 7 yn cael eu dad-ddethol.
The following amendments have been selected: amendments 1, 2 and 3 in the name of Jane Hutt, and amendments 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth. If amendment 3 is agreed, amendments 4, 5, 6 and 7 will be deselected.
Y Dirprwy Lywydd / The Deputy Presiding Officer
We move on to item 6, which is the Welsh Conservatives debate on older people, and I call on Janet Finch-Saunders to move the motion.
Cynnig NDM6140 Paul Davies
Motion NDM6140 Paul Davies
Cynnig bod Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru:
To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:
1. Yn cydnabod y cyfraniad pwysig a gwerthfawr a wneir i gymdeithas Cymru gan bobl hŷn.
1. Recognises the important and valuable contribution made to Welsh society by older people.
2. Yn credu bod pobl hŷn yn haeddu urddas a pharch, yn ogystal ag annibyniaeth a’r rhyddid i wneud penderfyniadau am eu bywydau eu hunain.
2. Believes that older people deserve dignity and respect, as well as independence and the freedom to make decisions about their own lives.
3. Yn gresynu at fethiant Llywodraeth Cymru i roi sicrwydd i bobl hŷn drwy roi cap ar gostau a diogelu £100,000 o asedion ar gyfer y rhai sydd mewn gofal preswyl i sicrhau nad yw pobl yn colli eu cynilion oes a’u cartrefi i gostau gofal.
3. Regrets the Welsh Government’s failure to provide security for older people by setting a cap on costs and protecting £100,000 of assets for those in residential care ensuring people do not lose their life savings and homes to care costs.
4. Yn nodi canfyddiadau adroddiad ar ddementia a gafodd ei gynhyrchu gan Gomisiynydd Pobl Hŷn Cymru yn tynnu sylw at yr anawsterau a gaiff pobl sydd â dementia o ran cael gafael ar wybodaeth, cymorth a gwasanaethau a all wneud gwahaniaeth mawr i’w bywydau.
4. Notes the findings from a dementia report produced by the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales that highlighted the difficulties those with dementia have in accessing the information, support, and services that can make a big difference to their lives.
5. Yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i:
5. Calls on the Welsh Government to:
(a) Cyflwyno Bil Hawliau Pobl Hŷn, i ehangu a hyrwyddo hawliau pobl hŷn;
a) Introduce an Older People's Rights Bill, to extend and promote the rights of older people;
(b) Rhoi dyletswydd ar gyrff y sector cyhoeddus i ymgynghori â phobl hŷn wrth wneud penderfyniadau sy’n effeithio ar eu bywydau; ac
b) Place a duty on public sector bodies to consult older people when making decisions which affect their lives; and
(c) Sicrhau mai Cymru yw’r genedl gyntaf yn y DU sy’n ystyriol o ddementia.
c) Make Wales the first dementia-friendly nation in the UK.
Cynigiwyd y cynnig.
Motion moved.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. And I move the motion tabled by Paul Davies AM, which seeks to recognise the immense value our older members in our communities contribute to our economy, but also to recognise the needs that they deserve now to, hopefully, assist them to have a long and quality life.
People are living longer—into their 80s, 90s, and even longer. They’ve gone further, to create a wealth to our economy of over £1 billion, through unpaid care, community work, supporting families, and volunteering roles. The UK Government’s triple-lock guarantee on basic state pension means that pensioners now are £1,125 better off per year since the Conservatives came into office in 2010. The Welsh Conservatives share the UK Government’s ambition to continually improve the lives of older people here in Wales, and, through our debate today, we invite this Chamber to do likewise.
From 2012 to 2030, the number of people aged 65 or over in Wales is projected to increase by 292,000. My own local authority of Conwy has the highest proportion of over 65s in Wales, making up 26 per cent of the population. Yes, there is demographic variation across Wales, but we are here to fight for everyone considered an older person in our society. We need innovative and practical solutions to the problems facing our older people across our nation.
A key area that we must improve is in the access to the vital services they require to provide the quality of life they deserve. Access to services for those with disability is key, access for those with sensory loss is vital, and access to services for those with memory loss is crucial. By ‘access’, I mean easy and well signposted, not having to struggle and having to navigate your way around the services that are actually available. For example, 33 per cent of older people report finding it extremely difficult to make a convenient appointment in primary care. We know that older people are disproportionately affected by poor health; 36 per cent state that this limits their day-to-day activity. However, we are very fortunate here in Wales to have an older people’s commissioner who is so obviously passionate about standing up for the rights, needs and welfare of our older generations.
It was recently highlighted, the importance of isolation and loneliness being seen as a public health risk, with over half of those aged 75 now living alone, and 63 per cent of people aged 80 and over saying that they feel lonely all the time. The commissioner’s also warned of very serious allegations relating to the experiences of older people accessing healthcare and treatment. Just this month, I’ve had involvement in two public interest reports by the ombudsman that have highlighted inadequate care, serious inadequate care, and systematic failure by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board, and also in the treatment of older patients, including a 132-week wait for cancer treatment.
Policies such as the care in the community agenda: when this agenda came out, I think we all welcomed it, but I’m afraid beds have just been stripped out, in anticipation of this agenda, of our hospital wards. And that has actually happened without the community staffing and infrastructure put in place. We have now a blatant shortage of physios, district nurses, support workers, and OTs. So, basically, they’ve actually put the cart before the horse in terms of the support. Now we have this real, huge void of deficit of care.
Care homes are closing now across Wales, and we’ve lost a few recently in Conwy—elderly mentally ill beds that we simply cannot find replacements for—patients and families given just a month to find a new placement often now being placed miles away from the communities that they’ve lived, worked, grown up in and that they love; often moved miles away.
Bedblocking by those waiting for EMI beds in care homes is rife. One of my own constituents had to wait 18 months in a hospital bed—[Interruption.] Absolutely—waiting just for EMI provision. Indeed, the latest statistics show that 79 per cent of patients aged 65-plus experienced a massive delayed transfer of care: 54 per cent of these delays due to community care, selection of care homes, or waiting for the availability of a care home. There remains a distinct lack of integration between health and social care—so often talked about here as going forward, but it’s just not happening on the ground.
The King’s Fund have warned that longer stays in hospital lead to increased risk of infection, low mood and feelings of poor self-esteem and institutionalism, with many of our elderly patients who are in hospitals actually losing their whole sense of time—what day it is, what month it is, and even what year it is—and it’s wrong. Intermediate care have found that a delay in hospital of just two days negates the additional benefit of intermediate care. Whilst in hospital or care, the elderly can be at particular risk of dehydration, which often results in confusion, pressure ulcers, falls, and urine infections. Today, we had an excellent cross-party group on sepsis and its prevention, the lack of awareness and the number of patients and people who are now quite unaware of the risks of sepsis. And that affects people of all ages and all generations, but it’s particularly dangerous in the elderly.
A pilot campaign on hydration messages increased the number of visitors bringing drinks for relatives from 18 per cent to 63 per cent, but it’s not enough. The Welsh Government must work closely to promote the Welsh NHS’s Water Keeps You Well campaign across all hospitals in Wales, and A Glass Full scheme, piloted in Gwent.
The Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, on hospital catering and patient nutrition, found that having nutritional and appealing food is an essential part of getting better. I’ve had first-hand experience where I can tell you that nutrition and hydration are equally as important as medication.
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’s report earlier this year has highlighted the problems faced in terms of ensuring adequate hydration and nutrition in hospitals outside of normal working hours. Proper monitoring and encouragement by staff and families is required. I’m going to just raise a point on that: quite often we’re told, ‘If we ask them if they want a drink or they want to eat and they say “no”, we’re not allowed to force them’. I have often said that you can encourage someone; you can coax someone. There are different ways if someone puts their mind to it and not enough is actually focused on this.
Our motion calls for Wales to become a dementia-friendly nation. More than 45,000 people in Wales are currently living with dementia—expected to exceed 55,000 by 2021 and over 100,000 by 2055. This is now the biggest cause of death in Britain, accounting for 11.6 per cent of all recorded deaths, yet Wales has the lowest diagnosis rate in the whole of the UK—only 43 per cent of those with dementia have been given a formal diagnosis, compared to 64 per cent in Northern Ireland and Scotland. The UK Government has already invested £50 million in creating dementia-friendly environments, training over 500,000 NHS staff. That is recognition of it and that is taking action, and we want to see that action here in Wales.
The Scottish Government has trained over 500 dementia champions in the NHS—can we have those in the Welsh NHS—and 800 dementia ambassadors in local communities: some of those, please, here. Yet, in Wales, we have just 32 Welsh Government-funded dementia support workers across the whole country, and a shocking one in 10 of those diagnosed were not given any support at all in the first year after their diagnosis. Imagine the grief for them; imagine the strain on their families. We must use innovation from other UK nations to proactively offer a single point of contact immediately following diagnosis and ensure that all health and social care staff have sufficient knowledge of this life-changing condition. Those who work looking after our older people in the healthcare sector very often do an outstanding job, one that takes exceptional amounts of empathy, compassion, patience and understanding. However, they need our support. A recent Health Foundation report has maintained that the money going into the health service in Wales will need to be doubled in the next 10 years in order to provide capacity to look after people of all ages in Wales.
Today’s debate focuses on how we can help to support our older and most valued people within our community who have come through the war, faced famine, faced rations and stood proudly to protect the country to allow for the freedoms—you know, for me to be able to stand here and express myself. There are other aspects to this debate, and I look forward to contributions from my colleagues and other Members across this Chamber. Diolch yn fawr.