Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 1 February 2022.
Diolch, First Minister. The number of people waiting for orthopaedic operations or assessments is increasing—the data is there—in the Powys Teaching Health Board area. This isn't just a Wales issue, this is a UK issue, with people waiting for operations. People are now living in day-to-day pain. A UK study found that 71 per cent of older people waiting for treatment said that their health had got worse during the pandemic. Many people are losing out on their lives and they're taking out private loans so they can access treatment in the private sector. I've been speaking to medical professionals across the NHS who believe that we need to look at having two specialist hospitals, one in south Wales and one in north Wales, that solely focus on orthopaedic care and rehabilitation, because the current model of every hospital doing everything is simply not working with the massive demands on surgery space. So, First Minister, would you consider looking at this model to get orthopaedic waiting lists down, so we can give those people in pain in Powys and right across the rest of Wales some hope and some light at the end of the tunnel? Diolch, Llywydd.