Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:36 pm on 23 May 2018.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 2:36, 23 May 2018

Diolch, Llywydd. At the end of last month, Cabinet Secretary, you wrote to all Assembly Members explaining that the party opposite's claim of falling nurse numbers at Betsi Cadwaladr, a claim based on freedom of information data, was wrong. You instead claimed that Betsi, like the rest of Wales, had seen an increase in qualified nurse numbers. Now, we've looked into the Stats Wales figures, and do you know what? Those figures do show that between September 2015 and 2017 Betsi has seen a small increase in qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors. Now, a cynic would say that you deliberately chose September 2015 as your starting point. If we chose September 2014 as the starting point, then the same Stats Wales figures show a decline in the number of full-time equivalent nurses in Betsi Cadwaladr compared with September 2017. Will you accept that things aren't really quite as rosy as you suggested in that letter last month?