Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 27 June 2023.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 1:50, 27 June 2023

We spend less in Wales per head of the population on health than any other part of the United Kingdom—England, Scotland or Northern Ireland. I used the figures about one-year waits and the elimination of two-year waits in England. You, on two questions, failed to answer whether you'd commit to wiping out those two-year waits here in Wales. Why won't you give some hope and some inspiration to patients that they will progress through, and that those 32,000 that are waiting two years or more, or indeed the 150,000-odd people who are waiting one year or more, can see some progress in their waiting times?

The comment I put to you about it being a wake-up call wasn't my comment, it was the Royal College of Surgeons' comment. Those are people at the coalface who are dealing with these patients day in, day out. I offer you the third and final time today, First Minister, to give that commitment to get rid of the two-year waits in the NHS. I hear some laughing coming from the Labour benches. For the 31,000 people who are on a two-year wait, that's no laughing matter. It isn't unfair to ask the First Minister, who's responsible for the NHS here in Wales, to commit to getting rid of those two-year waits, which has happened in Scotland and happened in England.

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