Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 3:15 pm on 9 February 2021.
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. First Minister, I'd like to address the issue of waiting times in Wales, and I appreciate there are pressures on waiting times across the United Kingdom but, in Wales, for example, they're particularly acute, with 530,000 patients on a waiting list for starting treatment—the highest on record since data was first collected in this format since 2011. Two hundred and thirty one thousand of those patients have been waiting 36 weeks or more. That's a nearly 1,000 per cent increase from November 2019, when 22,000 patients were waiting over 36 weeks. And between March and November, there were 20,000 fewer urgent cancer referrals compared to the same time previously in the last 12 months. This is a matter of huge concern I think you'll agree, First Minister, so what action is your Government doing to address these waiting times here in Wales?