Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 7 February 2017.
I am ever so sorry, but this is a very serious matter. I myself have been waiting 30 weeks to have my own hip looked at. I am on painkillers, which my doctor, when he handed them to me, said that it said on the box, ‘If you take these for more than three days, you will become addicted to them’. I asked my doctor about that, and he said, ‘Your choice is that you suffer the pain or you take them’. Now, people waiting for hip operations can get very depressed from the constant pain—I know this for myself—and they can be taking painkillers that lead to all kinds of side effects. Why is it that, in Wales—and north Wales, specifically—we have to wait up to two years for these operations? This really is not good enough. What are you going to do about that?