English: First of all, may I thank my fellow committee members for having collaborated with you on this report? I'd like to thank the clerking team and the wider support team and the research team, and everyone who shared with us as a committee their experiences and their expertise as we tried to better understand the impact of long waiting times for treatment. We're at risk at the moment of almost accepting that people are going to have to wait a long time for treatment. It's endemic. One could start to think that it's inevitable, but it isn't. And this report, I think, makes it clear in a number of recommendations that we can't accept the status quo, and that we can't accept that we will return to the pre-pandemic stage, as the Chair said. The report makes a number of recommendations you could place under a broad heading of reducing waiting lists. We've looked at commissioning higher capacity to strengthen the workforce, to encouraging early diagnosis, to tackle health inequalities - those things that will make a different in the longer term - but I think it was timely to do a piece of work on dealing with the long waiting times we currently have and how they impact people. The statistics are frightening, with something like 0.75 million people in Wales on some kind of waiting list. And it's very important to always bear in mind that these are real people, not statistics, and that many of them are in pain, they're anxious, they see their health declining even further, they can't live their lives as they should, they perhaps can't work, and therefore we need to think of their well-being always as they wait. We make recommendations as to how to support patients as they wait, on investment in helping patients to manage pain, where there's been huge underinvestment. We need to inform people about alternative support that they can access in their communities whilst they wait, support through pharmacists and so on, and there are specific recommendations on those areas. It became very apparent to us that there are very fundamental weaknesses in the communication with patients. How many times have we as Senedd Members worked on behalf of a constituent who's reached the end of their tether because they simply don't know where they are on their journey through the health service, or how many times we have listened to someone whilst they explain their physical pain or their anxiety? Recommendation 19 relates to using technology as part of the communications work. I'm wearing another hat as the chair of the cross-party group on a digital Wales, and I will remind you of the words of the Deputy Minister Lee Waters in the Senedd, comparing the kind of service that we have in ordering something online, knowing exactly where your parcel is on its journey - comparing that with what we should expect in the twenty-first century in our health and care service, surely. You know that your Christmas shopping will reach you at 3.30 next Tuesday afternoon, but if you want to know when you'll get something far more important, such as a new hip, well, yes, you can knock on the door of your Senedd representative, but, as a rule, you would go to your GP, who would write to the health board, and they would write back - it produces work. It's ineffective and it leaves patients in the dark. It adds to that emotional strain faced by patients very often as they wait for treatment. Dirprwy Lywydd, tackling waiting lists in the health service does have to be one of the great priorities of the Welsh Government, if not the priority, and holding them to account on the work that they do in tackling the problem does have to be a priority for us as a Senedd. That is why this report is so important. I'm pleased that the Government has accepted 26 of our 27 recommendations, and accepted the other partially, but we can't be content with that. And very often, in accepting a recommendation, what the Government says is that, 'Well, we're already doing this.' But this is a mountain to climb, and our message as a committee is clear: the Government is not doing enough as things stand, and the people of Wales are suffering as a result of that.
Welsh: Yn gyntaf, a gaf i ddiolch i'm cyd-aelodau o'r pwyllgor am gael cydweithio efo chi ar yr adroddiad yma? Diolch i'r tîm clercio a thîm cefnogi'r pwyllgor a'r tîm ymchwil, ac wrth gwrs i bawb wnaeth rannu efo ni fel pwyllgor eu profiadau nhw a'u harbenigedd nhw wrth inni drio deall yn well effaith aros yn hir am driniaeth. Rydyn ni mewn perygl ar hyn o bryd o dderbyn, bron iawn, mai aros yn hir mae pobl yn mynd i'w wneud am driniaeth. Mae'n endemig. Mae rhywun yn gallu mynd i feddwl ei fod o'n anochel, ond dydy o ddim. Ac mae'r adroddiad yma, dwi'n credu, yn ei gwneud hi'n glir mewn nifer o argymhellion fod rhaid peidio â derbyn y sefyllfa fel y mae hi, a pheidio â derbyn mai mynd yn ôl i ddyddiau cyn pandemig dŷn ni eisiau ei wneud, fel dywedodd y Cadeirydd. Mae'r adroddiad yn gwneud nifer o argymhellion y gallech eu rhoi dan ryw bennawd eang o leihau rhestrau aros. Dŷn ni'n rhoi sylw i gomisiynu capasiti uwch i gryfhau'r gweithlu, i annog diagnosis cynnar, i daclo anghydraddoldebau iechyd - y pethau yma sy'n mynd i wneud gwahaniaeth yn yr hirdymor - ond mi oedd hi'n amserol, dwi'n credu, i wneud darn o waith ar ddelio efo'r amseroedd hir sydd gennym ni a sut maen nhw'n effeithio ar bobl. Mae'r ystadegau'n frawychus, onid ydyn, efo rhywbeth fel 0.75 miliwn o boblogaeth Cymru ar ryw fath o restr aros? Ac mae'n bwysig iawn cofio bob amser mai pobl go iawn ydy'r rhain, nid ystadegau, a bod llawer ohonyn nhw'n aros mewn poen, yn bryderus, yn gweld eu hiechyd yn dirywio'n waeth, yn methu byw eu bywydau fel y dylen nhw, yn methu gweithio o bosib, ac felly mae angen meddwl am eu lles nhw bob amser wrth aros. Dŷn ni'n gwneud argymhellion ar sut i gefnogi cleifion wrth aros, ar fuddsoddi mewn helpu cleifion i reoli poen - rhywbeth lle mae yna danfuddsoddi mawr wedi bod. Mae angen rhoi gwybod i bobl am gefnogaeth amgen y gallen nhw ei chael yn eu cymunedau wrth aros, cefnogaeth drwy fferyllwyr ac ati, ac mae yna argymhellion penodol ynglŷn â'r meysydd hynny. Mi ddaeth hi'n amlwg iawn i ni fod yna wendidau sylfaenol iawn yn y cyfathrebu sy'n digwydd efo cleifion. Faint o weithiau ydyn ni fel Aelodau o'r Senedd yma wedi gweithredu ar ran etholwr sydd wedi cyrraedd pen ei dennyn am nad ydy o'n gwybod lle mae o arni yn y siwrnai drwy'r gwasanaeth iechyd, neu wedi gwrando ar rywun sydd yn egluro ei boen neu ei boen meddwl? Mae argymhelliad 19 yn ymwneud â defnyddio technoleg fel rhan o'r gwaith cyfathrebu yna. Ac yn gwisgo het arall fel cadeirydd y grŵp trawsbleidiol ar Gymru ddigidol, mi wnaf i'ch atgoffa chi o eiriau'r Dirprwy Weinidog Lee Waters yn y Senedd yn cymharu'r math o wasanaethau dŷn ni wedi'i gael wrth archebu rhywbeth ar-lein, yn gwybod yn union le mae'ch parsel chi arni hi, efo'r hyn y dylen ni allu ei ddisgwyl yn yr unfed ganrif ar hugain yn ein gwasanaeth iechyd a gofal, siawns. Mi ydych chi'n gwybod bod eich siopa Nadolig chi yn mynd i gyrraedd am 3.30 brynhawn dydd Mawrth nesaf, ond os ydych chi eisiau gwybod pryd dŷch chi'n mynd i gael rhywbeth llawer pwysicach, fel clun newydd, gallech, mi allech chi guro ar ddrws eich cynrychiolydd yn y Senedd, ond y drefn fyddai mynd at eich meddyg teulu, fyddai wedyn yn ysgrifennu at y bwrdd iechyd a fyddai'n ysgrifennu yn ôl - cynhyrchu gwaith. Mae'r system yn aneffeithiol ac mae'n gadael cleifion yn y tywyllwch. Mae'n ychwanegu at y straen emosiynol y mae cleifion oddi tano yn aml iawn wrth aros am driniaeth. Dirprwy Lywydd, mae taclo rhestrau aros yn y gwasanaeth iechyd yn gorfod bod yn un o flaenoriaethau mawr Llywodraeth Cymru, os nad y flaenoriaeth, ac mae eu dal nhw i gyfrif am y gwaith maen nhw'n ei wneud i fynd i'r afael â'r broblem yn gorfod bod yn flaenoriaeth i ni fel Senedd. Dyna bwysigrwydd yr adroddiad yma. Dwi'n falch bod y Llywodraeth wedi derbyn 26 o'n 27 argymhelliad ni, a derbyn y llall yn rhannol, ond mae'n rhaid inni beidio â bodloni ar hynny, wrth gwrs. Ac yn aml iawn, wrth dderbyn argymhellion, beth mae Llywodraeth yn ei ddweud ydy, 'Dŷn ni'n gwneud hyn yn barod.' Ond mae hwn yn fynydd i'w ddringo, ac mae'n neges ni fel pwyllgor yn glir: dydy'r Llywodraeth ddim yn gwneud digon yn barod, ac mae pobl Cymru yn dioddef yn sgil hynny.