This weekend saw Flint welcome home our very own Olympic champion, Jade Jones, as she returned from this year’s Tokyo Olympics. Jade was met by crowds of people, from young to old, and a parade through the town, ending with a party for the whole community.

A few weeks ago I wrote of how proud I was of Jade for her efforts at this year’s Olympics, as always, and the celebration over the weekend showed that the town shares the same feeling. Well done again Jade, and congratulations to all those who made the weekend such a success.

Constituents have been contacting me recently about waiting times for appointments with GPs and specialists, now that health services are resuming. The Welsh Government has recently announced additional funding for health and social services to support our hard working staff, as they continue to deal with the impact of the pandemic. An additional £550 million has been allocated to the NHS to be used in this financial year.

£140 million of this funding is being specifically targeted at improving waiting times, which I know is a concern to many constituents. I will of course continue to offer my support to local health services to do all I can to support the health board’s recovery from the pandemic and to continue championing the best possible health care for the communities of North Wales.

If you have any concerns which you would like me to raise with the health board, then please email me at Hannah.Blythyn@senedd.wales or call my office on 01352 762102.

This week I also want to once again show my support for our shop and retail workers across our corner of the country and Wales as a whole. Usdaw, the shop workers union is running a summer “Freedom from Fear” campaign, highlighting the abuse that our front line retail staff sadly face on a daily basis.

Last year’s survey results showed that almost 90% of the 5000 shop workers who responded, had received verbal abuse whilst at work throughout the pandemic. The abuse faced by shop workers has sadly been increasing over recent years. Though the majority of us recognise the role they have played as key workers, it is clear that shop workers are still victims of regular verbal and physical abuse.

I will continue to do all I can, both personally and politically, to support our retail sector as much as possible and would encourage all those who work in retail to complete Usdaw’s survey and share your experiences so we can work together to make our workplaces, better places. No one should be abused simply for doing their job and everyone has a right to feel safe at work.