Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 5 March 2019.

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Photo of Adam Price Adam Price Plaid Cymru 1:40, 5 March 2019

Diolch, Llywydd. Your Government's targets for people waiting more than 12 hours for treatment in accident and emergency is zero. In Scotland, they have the same target and have managed to come within touching point of it. With a larger population, they achieved a figure of fewer than 200 with unacceptably long waits in the latest figures. But, in Wales, that same statistic has to be counted in thousands. In January 2014, the number was 1,277, and since then it has been getting steadily worse: 3,006 in 2015; 4,048 in 2017; 5,099 last year. In the latest figures, for January this year, it is worse again: 5,264—the second worst figure for Wales since records began. And I should point out that over 700 of these cases were at Wrexham Maelor, in your own constituency. So, my question is simple, Minister: do you accept that these almost unprecedented and unacceptably long waits at A&E now constitute a fully fledged crisis? I'd be grateful as well if, in your response, you could place on record the reason you are deputising for the First Minister today.