Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 19 November 2019.
Can I thank the Minister for that answer? Now, I fully understand the pressures of the winter upon our services and that, clearly, has implications upon bed occupancy within hospitals, and, consequently, elective surgeries, which are subsequently cancelled as this result of bed shortages. We're seeing that, I've experienced that, and many of my constituents have.
I fully appreciate the commitment of delivering care. For example, I was at Morriston yesterday, but there were 10 ambulances stacked up outside the accident and emergency department yesterday at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, which clearly has implications of actually getting ambulances out to people. Part of the problem is flow through hospitals—we know that, we know there's a problem. And I also know the argument that if beds are there, they'll be filled quickly. But if we don't address the issue of how we deal with some of these points, we're going to have patients waiting in ambulances outside A&E, patients not having elective operations, patients waiting in homes 14 hours—as I've had a constituent telling me—for an ambulance, because they're stacked up outside Morriston Hospital.
It is important that we look at how we manage those beds and ensure that the bed occupancies are used effectively. Can you give us an indication as to how the Welsh Government will actually address the issue of bed availability to people, so elective surgeries are not cancelled and people wait longer, so that when people turn up at A&E, they won't be waiting in an ambulance for 14 hours outside A&E, and won't be waiting for an ambulance 14 hours in their homes?