Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 27 June 2023.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 1:47, 27 June 2023

First Minister, I want to know what's going on here in Wales and what hope you're offering to people here in Wales. But if you want to use the English statistics, 5 per cent of people are waiting one year or more in England and 20 per cent of people on a waiting list are waiting one year or more in Wales. You talk about the decrease in two-year waits; 261 people came off that two-year wait. There are still over 30,000 people waiting two years or more here in Wales. In England, they have all but been eliminated, and in Scotland as well, so this is an outlier that's happening here in Wales on your watch. This isn't my comment; this is the Royal College of Surgeons' comment, when they say that these figures are a 'wake-up call' to see what the Welsh Government can do now that they might have a bit of space before we get into the winter pressures.

So, again, what actions are the Welsh Government taking to reduce these stubbornly high waiting lists, and will you stand by a commitment to say that two-year waits here in Wales will be eliminated by the end of this calendar year? It's not much to ask, because you used to have a target to eliminate those two-year waits. Have you given up on them?

Minister

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