Many of us are, of course, painfully aware that in June Betsi Cadwaladr health board will reach a very sorry milestone in terms of the fact that it will have been in special measures for five years. Now, that is the length of an Assembly term—a full Assembly term in special measures, which I think highlights how grave the situation is. And one does find oneself asking, 'Well, what have special measures delivered in terms of Betsi Cadwaladr?' What is the point of these special measures unless, after five years, we see the progress that one would hope to see and that one would feel is fair for us to expect to see? Indeed, special measures has become a kind of norm for Betsi Cadwaladr health board now, and some, with tongue in cheek, ask, 'Are there any extra-special measures that we could place the board in?' The Government, of course, although during that period have had direct control over the health board, have been far too willing to deny any sort of responsibility for the situation, and that is not acceptable either.

So, what difference have those five years made? Well, I'll tell you. During the period when the Government, to all intents and purposes, has had oversight of the board, we have seen attempts to privatise dialysis services in Wrexham and in Oswestry; we have seen attempts to privatise pharmacies in hospitals; we have certainly seen efforts to change the shifts of 4,000 nurses across north Wales, forcing them, to all intents and purposes, to work an additional extra shift without pay, which destroyed the morale of the nurses entirely. And I'm so pleased that the proposal as tabled by Plaid Cymru does recognise the excellent work and congratulates the workforce in health and social care on what they delivered despite the failings of management and the Welsh Government, in this particular case—and managers who, by the way, are clearly not doing their work in north Wales, because, as we've heard, they have to bring in dozens of management consultants on huge fees when the board is carrying debts of around £40 million. It's spending tens of millions of pounds on private agency staff, whilst many of us in this Assembly have been calling for many years for more effective and substantial steps to be taken in training and recruiting additional staff.

We see dozens of mental health patients sent to inappropriate locations, hundreds of miles from their families, in England. We've seen arguments about payments for contracts with hospitals in England, which mean that hospitals such as the Countess of Chester have refused to take Welsh patients. We've seen the loss of almost an additional 100 beds from north Wales hospitals during the period of special measures, never mind the loss of beds and community hospitals at the same time—29 beds gone in Glan Clwyd; another 29 in Maelor in Wrexham—and that leading, of course, to the delayed transfers of care that we hear so much about so regularly. The worst waiting lists in Wales; the worst A&E waiting lists in Wales at Wrexham Maelor, where barely half the patients are seen within four hours. And I have a personal story that I could tell you of waiting 12 hours to be seen in an A&E department. Now, of course, that means—[Interruption.] No, I won't take an intervention, I'm sorry; I have a lot to cover.

We see ambulances queuing outside hospitals because of the flow of patients, and we've heard about what's happened in places such as Gwersyllt, Rhosllanerchrugog and Fairbourne, when patients have had to wait many hours for an ambulance, and the results can be very grave and serious indeed.

Just yesterday, Adam Price highlighted the fact that almost half of all the incidents that led to deaths in Welsh hospitals were in the Betsi Cadwaladr health board area, and there's a question remaining as to the safety of mental health patients in north Wales. Another report was saying today that the north Wales mental health counselling service is not appropriate. Things are not improving as we would hope to see. Indeed, in some aspects, I have to say, the situation is worse now than it was five years ago.

So, what have special measures delivered? It's the current First Minister who was the health Minister who was forced to take Betsi Cadwaladr into special measures, and it was the current health Minister, when he was a Deputy Minister at that time, who was given specific responsibility for the situation at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. It's about time, in my view, that the chief executive of the board stepped down. He's had more than enough time for us to see more substantial progress than we have seen. I can't believe, if truth be told, that he is still in post. I want to hear from the Deputy Minister what discussions there have been between the Welsh Government and the board on the future of the current First Minister—the current chief executive. The debate on the future of the First Minister is for another time, perhaps. But, more seriously too, we do have a situation where, given the record of the current health Minister, as I've outlined, during this whole period of special measures and direct control from the Welsh Government, in my view there is no doubt that the Minister should go too.