I think that's getting away from the topic of the motion, but we do use providers outside the health service to catch up. It's what we do in a range of areas in order to make the best use of NHS capacity, but the challenge is, if we don't make use of services outside the national health service, then the reality is that more people wait for longer. And, actually, part of the point of what we're trying to do is to have a measure that is clinically appropriate and tells us the honest scale of the challenge we have. We then need to invest in our service, both in system reform, but also the targeted investment I previously announced as well, to improve capacity where we're needed so that our system is in balance, so that we don't need to make regular use of services outside the national health service to make sure that people don't wait for too long.

I published performance against the new measure in June of this year and will continue to report back each month. The data shows that two thirds of patient pathways assessed at the highest level of risk were waiting within their target time or within 25 per cent of the date, and that's clinically acceptable according to the clinicians who have designed and piloted the new measure before I made the decision to introduce it across Wales. And the data does shine a light across the patient pathway and demonstrates clearly that further work is needed to improve services for new and returning patients.

So, health boards have developed plans to improve their position, and I've provided targeted investment against that to support development. And the actions they take will build on the progress that has been made since the launch of 'Together for Health' in 2013. Our approach is in line with prudent healthcare and the direction that I've previously outlined in 'A Healthier Wales'. So, there will be a continued and renewed focus on providing more treatment and care within the community and making better use of optometrists to ensure that ophthalmologists are free to see people who really do need to see them.

Our Wales eye care service delivered by optometrists leads the way in the UK and is widely recognised as a significant advance in the provision of primary eye care services and it's helped to reduce the backlog, and there is more to do. 

I'll turn to the closing, Llywydd, as I can see the clock is up. Over the next 12 months, we will consider carefully with partners what steps we should take once the eye healthcare delivery plan comes to an end. And reviewing performance against the new measure will be an important part of that. There is still much to do, but real progress has been made in Wales in the provision of eye healthcare services and I do, again, want to recognise the contribution of health professionals across primary and secondary care in the way that they have designed and delivered the change in services that we are now making. I'd also like to thank partners, including patient reps and the third sector, for the challenge and collaboration that continues to inform our approach: new measures that are clinically appropriate and a UK first with targeted investment that supports system reform. And we will now have much greater honesty and scrutiny about the challenge we face. Our target now is to deliver.