Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 26 September 2017.
Well, what I can say is we recently announced £50 million of performance moneys in order to continue—we are now trading statistics again, but I think we have to—in order to continue this improvement trend for waiting times. The health Secretary and I have been very clear on the need for further improvement in waiting times, and all health boards have committed to further improvements by the end of March 2018. There are plans in place for all organisations and monitoring arrangements to be in place to ensure the improvement is delivered, building on the progress over the last two years. Yes, there are inconsistencies. Yes, we want to make sure those inconsistencies are dealt with, which is why we’ve allocated this money and why, of course, health boards have made the commitment that they have.