Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price pledges free social care from parent's home
Adam Price explains motivation behind free social care pledge
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price has set out his vision for "transformational" social care while visiting his mother, who cares for his father.
Mr Price announced his aim to provide free social care as part of his party's Senedd election campaign.
If Plaid Cymru are elected into government, he said that one of his first acts would be to explore how it could fund health and social care services.
He added that the pandemic has "shone a light" on the contribution of care workers and reiterated his party's pledge to guaranteeing a £10 an hour minimum wage for all care workers.
Mr Price said: "I've seen with my own eyes the struggle that many families face. For my mother, caring for my father with dementia and so many others in the same position, free social care would be truly transformational.
"That is why one of my first acts as First Minister leading a Plaid Cymru government would be to establish a Commission to explore ways in which we could source extra money to fund the creation of a seamless health and social care service, free at the point of need.
"A new national health and care service would ensure the seamless integration of delivery on a local level, bringing together local government and health boards in new regional care partnerships.
"Care assessment processes should and would focus on identifying personal care need, rather than the arbitrary definitions of 'health' or 'social' care.
"For the new service to be a success it must work for the carers as well as the cared for."
He made the announcement from his parent's garden. His mother, Angela, said she has struggled to access support with caring for her husband.
Adam Price's mother Angela on caring for her husband
Mr Price added that a Plaid Cymru government would fund more district nurses, nurses with a community masters' degree and increase nursing placements in care homes for students.
The party has also pledged to make the minimum wage for care workers £10 per hour.
It comes on a busy day on the election campaign trail, with Labour leader Keir Starmer and Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford visiting Gower to outline their plans to create affordable housing.
The Welsh Conservatives have been highlighting different policies on lockdown easing from a pub over the border in Hereford.