Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:32 pm on 11 June 2019.
Well, Llywydd, special measures at Betsi Cadwaladr will last for as long as the health Minister believes that they are necessary, and as long as it is necessary to make sure we have the improvements replicated in other areas that we have already seen in relation to maternity services, that we've seen in out-of-hours GP services, that we are seeing in primary care, and, indeed, that we are seeing in mental health as well. Of course, there are things that that board has to improve, and that does include waiting times for some specialities. It does include financial planning. That's why the board remains in special measures, because we are not satisfied, and the Minister is not satisfied, that everything is yet in place to allow us to de-escalate that level of intervention.
But the Member is selective, as he always is. He doesn't mention, as he could have mentioned, if he had the facts that are in front of him, that the number of patients waiting less than 26 weeks for treatment is now the best in Wales that it has been since 2013. He didn't point to the fact that therapy waits in Wales were 98 per cent lower at the end of March this year than they were in March of last year. He didn't point out that there is a 30 per cent increase in five years in the number of cancer patients in Wales who are treated within the target times that we have laid down.
The point that I always want to try to make to the Member is that it is not sensible, and neither is it helpful to those many people who work every single day to make our health services in north Wales, and every other part of Wales, as good as they possibly can be, to treat the exceptional as though it were typical. Where there are exceptions, and where there are things that need to be done better, then, of course, we work to do that, and the figures that I've just provided to him demonstrate how we are succeeding in those headline matters right across our country.