Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:19 pm on 8 October 2019.
Could I thank the First Minister for that answer? It's very helpful to understand that we have seen a reduction—and we have seen a reduction, particularly with life-threatening conditions. I remember a time when waits for heart surgery were over 12 months, and cancer also a long time, but they've come down dramatically. But as we've seen the drops in times and waits for life-threatening conditions, we've seen a rise in waits for other conditions that have an impact upon people's quality of life. I'll give you two examples. I had a constituent who I wrote to back in February asking about a gallbladder situation, and I was informed there was a 143-week waiting list for that condition. I wrote back again in the summer saying, 'Sorry, we still haven't had any progress', and the waiting time had gone up by 26 weeks to 169 weeks. So, in 26 weeks waiting, it had gone up 26 weeks. So, effectively, that patient had not moved anywhere on that waiting list because of the changes. And we're seeing things with knee operations. And as these people wait for these conditions, they may not be life-threatening, but they are life-changing and they have chronic impacts upon people. Somebody with a knee wait may have to wait two years for a bad knee, but whilst they wait for that bad knee operation, the other knee goes as a consequence of the pressure placed on it. So, we are increasing the challenges for these people and worsening their quality of life. What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure that not just the life-threatening conditions are being reduced, but that the waiting times for other conditions are also being reduced?