5. What actions are the Welsh Government taking to improve access to healthcare for patients in South Wales West? OAQ54644

Llywydd, I thank the Member for the question. Health boards in Wales continue to take a range of actions to improve access to all healthcare services that are safe, sustainable and as close to people's homes as possible.

Thank you, First Minister. Of course, while there has been some progress in improving access, there is one area in which we are still performing badly, and that is the emergency response times. Over recess, I was contacted by a constituent whose elderly parent suffered a stroke. But, after waiting over an hour and a half for an ambulance, they gave up and drove to A&E themselves. Now, this isn't the first time that this has happened, and a few months ago another of my constituents also waited hours for an emergency response following a stroke. So, First Minister, why are stroke patients facing these potentially life-threatening delays, and what is the Welsh Government doing to improve emergency response times?

I thank the Member for the supplementary question and for her recognition of the progress that has been made in aspects of the health service. She will know that reforms to the ambulance service mean that red responses have now been met above the target that we set for them for 47 months consecutively. Amber response times—the next category down—have been subject to an amber review, and we recognise that there are things that we need to do to refine that category, and stroke patients are a particular concern within that category. And I know that the health Minister is alert to that, he's working with officials on that. It's a matter we take very seriously, and we'll continue to see what can be done to improve it within the system that we have.

Well, it's not just ambulance waiting times, it's ambulance discharge times as well.

Your Government recently passed its climate emergency statement, yet we have patients and visitors driving round and round in circles in parking spaces at Morriston, Singleton and Princess of Wales hospitals, contributing unnecessarily to local pollution. It's also literally preventing access to healthcare through missed appointments for some, but at least compromising the well-being of others whose visitors just give up. This can't just be a question for active travel and public transport and technology. Can you please tell us what health boards are doing to try and resolve this particular problem?

Well, Llywydd, I'm not sure what the Member is suggesting—whether she's suggesting that the answer is to make it easier for cars to be able to park at hospitals. Our efforts and health boards' efforts are focused on sustainable travel plans, making sure that public transport is aligned with hospitals so that people can travel easily in that way to hospitals, and in staggering some of the times that appointments are made and visiting hours are held, so that you don't have large numbers of people converging on a site at a particular moment. We have to have sustainable travel plans, and simply relying on more and more cars being able to make their way to hospitals will not provide that, and certainly will not provide any answer to a climate emergency.