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The big Senedd news recently has been the deal Plaid Cymru struck to pass the Welsh Government budget. This deal has seen Plaid Cymru secure an extra £113m for local authorities to spend on education, recycling and other services. At a time when councils throughout the country are cash-strapped, this extra money is desperately needed to keep council tax as low as possible.

More importantly than the extra cash we negotiated, is avoiding a doomsday scenario for public services in Wales. If there was no majority for the budget by the end of the process, only 75% of current spending plans continue into the new financial year. This would entail a catastrophic reality for all public services across Wales, the likes of which have not been seen before.

Local authorities and the NHS would probably be hardest hit by such brutal cutbacks. Plaid Cymru always put Wales, our communities and the people that live in them first. We were not prepared to be a bystander to the hollowing out of our public services to highlight Labour’s lack of leadership and good governance of our country.

Had we just sat back – like some of the rival political parties chirping from the sidelines – then the most vulnerable people in our community that heavily rely on frontline public services would have suffered the most. Local authorities would have inevitably been forced to set eye-watering council tax increases in a bid to make up some of the shortfall in money. It would have certainly led to thousands of loyal and dedicated frontline public sector workers losing their jobs. This would have led to a big adverse impact on the private sector as there would have been much less money circulating in our local economies.

Plaid Cymru are serious about replacing Labour as the party of government at next year’s Senedd elections. They are tired, out of ideas and lacking the ambition needed to transform our country. This budget deal was not about throwing them a lifeline; far from it. It was about ensuring our communities and people are protected as best as can be. If the electorate do opt for Plaid Cymru at the Senedd elections next May, it also ensures that our country is in the best possible shape ahead of the positive transformation we are focused on.

On a local front, it was fantastic to see Aneurin Minton elected to Caerphilly County Borough Council for Plaid Cymru. Aneurin – or Nye as he is known to friends – is a bright, enthusiastic, hard-working and caring young man who I am confident will make an excellent representative for the ward of Penyrheol, Trecenydd and Energlyn.

He has big boots to fill as he replaces Lindsay Whittle, who had to vacate his long-held council seat after the stunning by-election victory in October, but I know that Nye is up to the task. Thanks to everyone in the ward that placed their faith in Nye and turned out on a winter’s day to cast their vote.   

In personal news, I suffered a setback when I fell down some steps in Newport City Centre on my way to the office just over a week ago. I had been due to address unpaid carers later that morning in a panel event and explain what a Plaid Cymru Government could offer them, but it became apparent immediately that I would have to cancel due to the pain I felt.

I managed to get to the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport via a taxi as the ambulance would have taken too long. It was here that a ruptured patella ligament, which is the ligament that connects the bottom tip of the kneecap to the shin bone, was diagnosed.

I was told to go to The Grange hospital for a further examination and a possible MRI scan and again this journey was undertaken by car as I was told an ambulance would have taken “14 hours.” My diagnosis was confirmed at The Grange Hospital, where I was told I would be operated on. For some time, I was in a chair before a bed was found.

After a few days of waiting in vain, I was told that my op would take place at St Woolos hospital instead the following day. Thanks to family, I was able to return home for an evening ahead of the procedure before they took me to St Woolos. The operation was a success and I now have months of rest and physio ahead of me before I regain full function of my knee.

In this past week, I have seen the best of the NHS and I have seen the bad when it comes to capacity and staff ratios. I have seen patients unable to access beds – for part of my stay at The Grange I was one of them – and I have seen the disappointment in the dedicated staff who are unable to provide the care and comfort they want. There was never a shortage of compassion from staff and it underlined how vital they are to any transformation of our NHS. What my experience underlined is that our NHS – as dysfunctional as it sometimes feels – is absolutely worth fighting for.

It must be fixed, not ditched, and Plaid Cymru has a plan to do that if we are given that chance.