7. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's priorities for health services in west Wales for the next 12 months? OAQ55067

Our priority is to provide the people of Wales, including those in west Wales, with health services that deliver the best possible outcomes for patients. We will be guided by the best and most up-to-date clinical evidence and advice to deliver the high-quality care that the people of west Wales deserve.

Minister, I'm sure that one of your priorities for the west Wales health service will be in response to the latest eye care measures data, which shows that only 60.6 per cent of patients are being seen within the target date at Hywel Dda University Health Board. This figure has dropped by nearly 7 per cent since April last year, when 67.5 per cent of patients were seen within the target time, so it's clear that intervention is now needed to ensure that these figures do not continue to decline. Can you, therefore, tell us what immediate steps the Welsh Government will be taking to address this issue, and can you also tell us how the Welsh Government will futureproof ophthalmic services so that enough ophthalmic staff are available to prevent long waiting lists and irreversible harm in the future? 

It's actually about investing across the whole system, as I'm sure the Member will be aware. This isn't simply about the consultant end of the service, it's actually about getting the right people to the different parts of the service. That's why our reform programme in the primary care end is really important. I did recently discuss these matters with the chief optometric adviser, and these are matters that I intend to take up with chairs and vice-chairs of health boards in my next round of meetings, because having decided to introduce the new eye care measures because they are more accurate and useful measures, I then want to see achievement against them. 

Actually, without properly reforming the way that the system works, we won't see the sort of improvements that you and every other Member in this place would want to see. So, that is, then, about making sure that we have the availability within high-street optometry for different services so that those people don't, then, need to be on a consultant list. You can expect to see the consistent implementation of those pathways within this year, in place in every part of Wales—that's the expectation that I've set. That should, then, make better use of the capacity that exists in secondary care, and, actually, it would make our services more attractive, because consultant ophthalmologists themselves are people who can still choose where they wish to work. We need to address the whole workforce to deliver the sort of outcomes that you and I both want to see.

The final question, question 8, Suzy Davies.