English: Diolch, Lywydd. They sought to shamelessly use the ambulance service as a political football and, as you indicated, Cabinet Secretary, continued to criticise when the clinical model pilot was actually proposed by Welsh Government. Working closely with those ambulance professionals, who were daily having to bat away largely unfounded criticisms, I could see that this was denting their confidence and making their attempts to run an effective emergency service even more difficult. The thanks to these staff, which always followed those criticisms, I have to tell you, clearly just did not wash - they did not wash. During that time, front-line ambulance staff were telling me what was needed. What they said they needed was to get away from the random A8 target, which meant that every ambulance, regardless of the nature of the call, had to reach its destination within eight minutes. This was against all clinical evidence, which showed that only the most serious of cardiac cases actually benefited from this target. The target itself was actually acting against getting speedy responses to those most in need. This position was never accepted by the opposition here in the Assembly, despite apparent recognition now from the Conservative spokesperson today that the previous model was actually counterproductive. The McClelland review, which was commissioned in light of the constant criticisms of the ambulance service, took evidence from a number of stakeholders, with Unison, representing the front-line ambulance staff, being one of them. Unison's evidence was based solely on the experience of those professional, highly skilled, well-qualified, clinical, front-line staff, who stated that a change to the clinically led suite of evidence based performance indicators was needed rather than continued reliance on the eight-minute response times, which actually were totally meaningless in terms of measuring outcomes. It would be fair to say, Cabinet Secretary, that the views of these front-line staff, as submitted by Unison, were in the minority of the evidence that was submitted to the review. However, I am pleased that the Welsh Government attached sufficient importance to the views of the front-line professionals and clinical experts, rather than its political opponents -
Welsh: Diolch, Lywydd. Fe wnaethant geisio defnyddio'r gwasanaeth ambiwlans yn ddigywilydd fel arf wleidyddol ac, fel y dywedasoch chi, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, gwnaethant barhau i feirniadu pan gynigiwyd y cynllun peilot o'r model clinigol gan Lywodraeth Cymru. Gan weithio'n agos gyda'r gweithwyr ambiwlans proffesiynol hynny, a oedd yn ddyddiol yn gorfod gwrthsefyll beirniadaethau a oedd i raddau helaeth yn ddi-sail, roeddwn i'n gallu gweld bod hyn yn effeithio ar eu hyder ac yn gwneud eu hymdrechion i redeg gwasanaeth brys effeithiol hyd yn oed yn fwy anodd. Nid oedd y diolch i'r staff hyn, a oedd bob amser yn dilyn y beirniadaethau hynny, mae'n rhaid i mi ddweud wrthych chi, yn dderbyniol - nid oeddent yn dderbyniol. Yn ystod y cyfnod hwnnw, roedd y staff ambiwlans rheng flaen yn dweud wrthyf beth oedd ei angen. Dywedasant fod angen osgoi'r targed A8 diamcan, a oedd yn golygu bod pob ambiwlans, waeth beth yw natur yr alwad, yn gorfod cyrraedd pen ei daith o fewn wyth munud. Roedd hyn yn erbyn yr holl dystiolaeth glinigol, a oedd yn dangos mai dim ond yr achosion cardiaidd mwyaf difrifol oedd yn elwa mewn gwirionedd o'r targed hwn. Roedd y targed ei hun, mewn gwirionedd, yn gweithredu yn erbyn cael ymatebion cyflym i'r bobl hynny â'r angen mwyaf. Ni dderbyniwyd y sefyllfa hon gan y gwrthbleidiau yma yn y Cynulliad, er gwaethaf cydnabyddiaeth amlwg yn awr gan lefarydd y Ceidwadwyr heddiw fod y model blaenorol mewn gwirionedd yn wrthgynhyrchiol. Cafodd adolygiad McClelland, a gomisiynwyd yn sgil beirniadaethau cyson o'r gwasanaeth ambiwlans, dystiolaeth gan nifer o randdeiliaid, ac roedd Unsain, sy'n cynrychioli'r staff ambiwlans rheng flaen, yn un ohonynt. Roedd tystiolaeth Unsain yn seiliedig ar brofiad y staff rheng flaen proffesiynol, clinigol, medrus iawn, sydd â chymwysterau da. Dywedasant hwy fod angen newid i ddefnyddio cyfres o ddangosyddion perfformiad, dan arweiniad clinigol, sy'n seiliedig ar dystiolaeth, yn hytrach na dibyniaeth barhaus ar yr amserau ymateb wyth munud, a oedd, mewn gwirionedd, yn gwbl ddiystyr o safbwynt mesur canlyniadau. Byddai'n deg dweud, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet, fod barn y staff rheng flaen hyn, a gyflwynwyd gan Unsain, yn y lleiafrif o'r dystiolaeth a gyflwynwyd i'r adolygiad. Fodd bynnag, rwy'n falch bod Llywodraeth Cymru wedi ystyried bod barn y gweithwyr rheng flaen proffesiynol ac arbenigwyr clinigol yn ddigon pwysig, yn hytrach na barn ei gwrthwynebwyr gwleidyddol -