Waiting Times in Emergency Departments

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:20 pm on 23 October 2019.

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Photo of Mr Neil Hamilton Mr Neil Hamilton UKIP 2:20, 23 October 2019

I thank the Minister for that reply, but can I supply a translation for the benefit of the Assembly of what he's just said? The figures released last Friday showed that waiting times in Welsh A&E departments are the worst on record. That is, more people than ever before are waiting longer than the target waiting time set by the Welsh NHS. Twenty-five per cent of admissions to A&E spent more than four hours waiting; the target was 5 per cent. Over 6 per cent of admissions spent more than 12 hours waiting; the target for that is zero. And that was in September, which is, of course, not going to be the biggest challenge in the winter. The Minister has said before that there are real people behind the figures, and he suggested that it was one of the things that keeps him awake at night. Can I suggest that one way to improve his sleep pattern, perhaps, is to resign his office and let somebody else have a go at improving things?