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2 February 2026, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee

Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice

… matter of real concern. Wales is a strong performer nationally. You have got—we have got—shorter waiting times, higher trial effectiveness and strong operational delivery. Your open case load here in Wales is just under … backlogs, but actually, timeliness is probably a more important matrix for you. In terms of timeliness, the average waiting time here in Wales from case receipt to first main hearing is 15.9 weeks. If you take England and …

21 January 2026, Plenary

Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

… full operating capacity after that temporary suspension of elective procedures, which, in turn, then has contributed to extended wait times across the speciality. A constituent of mine has now been waiting over a year for a knee operation … help manage this, and if a rough indication could be provided as to when we can expect those wait times to come down …

4 June 2025, Plenary

Welsh Conservatives Debate: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

… but particularly those based in my constituency of Wrexham. Whilst of course more improvement is needed, particularly around waiting times and some specialties, I do want to highlight areas of improvement. It also gives me the opportunity … being done differently to ensure patients are not waiting for unacceptable lengths of time for diagnostic tests. Orthopaedic waiting times are also significantly reducing. I spoke with a constituent last Friday who saw his surgeon in out-patients …

14 January 2026, Plenary

Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales

… veterans in his constituency. So, he'd be welcome to join as well. In brief, there are long waiting times at Gobowen for people referred directly for surgery. But long waits at Gobowen are not the result … indeed. Patients from north Wales are being treated—I have been assured—alongside English patients, with the same waiting time targets. But I do think that a meeting would be helpful, so that we can give assurance …

10 February 2026, Plenary

Business Statement and Announcement

Well, thank you for your question, Russell George. You know that the Welsh Government remains committed to reducing waiting times, ensuring everyone in Wales, including those in Powys, has equitable and timely access to treatment, and this has … board of the commissioning position for Powys residents being treated in England in order to meet the Welsh waiting times target. That is the assurance that we can give …

21 October 2026, Plenary

Members' Legislative Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): An NHS first Bill

… stronger national health service in Wales, with more care provided in NHS settings wherever possible, and patients receiving timely, safe and high-quality care. As a Government, we firmly believe that the health service belongs to the people … deliver on the commitments that we have made to the people of Wales, particularly our commitment to reduce waiting times and to eliminate the longest waits …

4 June 2025, Plenary

Welsh Conservatives Debate: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

… and we must see urgent improvements if we are to meet our ambitious plans to continue to cut waiting times for people this year. Performance against the 62-day cancer target is also lower than elsewhere and … the case across Wales, waiting times at the urgent and emergency care departments are too long. As I said in the Chamber yesterday, Welsh Government officials are now working alongside health board staff to focus on improving the …

3 February 2026, Plenary

Business Statement and Announcement

… that statement that was made last week and to look at the statistical records in terms of the waiting times statistics. But, of course, we want to ensure that all patients in Wales are aware of the great … progress that has been made in terms of the reduction in waiting times, because it means that they are getting treatment. Over all the weekends, the work that's being done by our staff as a result …

3 February 2026, Plenary

Business Statement and Announcement

… are clear—not only have you heard from the First Minister in terms of that dramatic decrease in waiting times, but also you've seen it on the statistical record and, indeed, of course, the Cabinet Secretary for … Members, including you, to question the progress that's being made in terms of tackling and bringing down waiting times. Clearly, in terms of constituents and issues that have been raised like that, you would go, and …

4 February 2026, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Health board governance

… constituents. They know better than anyone the shortcomings of having a health board in crisis, with the worst waiting times in the UK. The health board has been in and out of special measures and enhanced monitoring for … from August 2024 to August 2025. We've seen cancer performance drop in the past 18 months, and waiting times remain the longest in Wales. So, Betsi is still not progressing as it should, despite being in special …

3 November 2026, Plenary

Questions to the First Minister

Given that specialist psychological therapy waiting times in Wales remain at the highest levels since the pandemic, with thousands waiting more than 26 weeks, what concrete commitments, if any, emerge from those discussions with the Cabinet Secretary …

19 November 2025, Children, Young People, and Education Committee

Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026-27 - evidence session

… real progress, actually, is in relation to children's health. So, you will recall, I think, the last time we had a budget scrutiny session, we talked about having just set up the child health network, which was … since they've been established on working as part of the broader transformation programme to reduce waiting times, and it's had very significant success in terms of paediatric waiting times. So, that's one example. As part …

9 December 2025, Plenary

Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: The New Emergency Ambulance Performance Framework and Ambulance Patient Handover at Hospitals

… who works on an ambulance, and they wanted to raise the alarm about the dire situation with ambulance waiting times locally. When this ambulance worker sent me the message, they were sitting outside the Grange A&E along … with 16 other ambulances. They told me that the average waiting time for ambulance handovers was nine hours. Apparently, the 45-minute handover rule only worked in October. But since then, it's gone back to this very …

11 November 2025, Plenary

Questions to the First Minister

… Osborne, a former ear, nose and throat consultant surgeon, slammed the Welsh Government for the disgraceful A&E waiting times we see in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and blamed Ministers for the health board still being … does the First Minister agree with Dr Osborne that the first step to tackling Betsi's A&E waiting times is creating more community hospital beds, and does she agree with me that waiting 12 years for …

2 July 2025, Plenary

Welsh Conservatives Debate: Health emergency

… that crisis couldn't be any clearer than in Glan Clwyd Hospital. Glan Clwyd now has the worst waiting times across the whole of Wales, and patients in my constituency are waiting hours in A&E and sometimes … people expect of us. No-one in a first-world country should have to put up with the waiting times Welsh people have had to endure under the Welsh NHS. And if we were moving in that direction …

11 July 2023, Plenary

Debate: Welsh Government Annual Report—Delivering the Government’s priorities and legislative programme

… place serves. Under 24 years of a Labour Government, propped up by Plaid Cymru, we have seen NHS waiting times increasing, education standards languishing at the bottom of the Programme for International Student Assessment league tables across … populate the workforce with social care providers, and to help the NHS in bringing down bedblocking and waiting times, as the two sectors are intrinsically linked. What we need to see are fewer warm words from the Government …

12 November 2025, Plenary

Debate on the Local Government and Housing Committee Report, 'The role of local authorities in supporting hospital discharges'

… scrutiny. However, the truth is this: you cannot fix what you cannot measure. Until we properly record delays, waiting times and staff vacancies, we will never have a full understanding of the system, and we will never make … carers and staff deserve. I therefore fully support recommendation 15 that the Welsh Government should publish data on waiting times for care assessments and services, as well as data on current staff vacancy levels. While I welcome the …

5 November 2024, Plenary

Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS Wales organisations—Escalation update

… aren't we, that a recent report by ITV, based on a Welsh Conservative investigation, showed that CAMHS waiting times had doubled from 2021. So, it's deeply concerning that Cwm Taf has now been de-escalated … wonder if you could confirm that the average waiting times in the health board for CAMHS have significantly improved since 2023 and that they are, indeed, meeting the four-week target that you'd had in place for …

5 December 2023, Plenary

Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Waiting Well: An update on progress

… targets are likely to be missed as well, unfortunately. According to the latest health stats that we have, waiting times have hit another record high for those waiting for health treatment in Wales, and there are over … little bit more detail about that single point of contact having that degree of knowledge about their waiting time journey as well? And just to understand as well, is that single point of contact—which I do welcome …

2 October 2024, Plenary

Welsh Conservatives Debate: Ophthalmology services

… their ability to do their job and remain independent if not dealt with in a timely manner. Whilst waiting times for surgery are reducing, as the Welsh Government amendment states, they are not where everyone wants them … reforms and expansion of different eye services are important and the reform of pathways and a reduction in waiting times must continue to be a priority for our health boards. Diolch …