Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 8 February 2022.
Well, Llywydd, that is exactly what I did say, that I had no difficulty in apologising, and I'm sure the leader of the opposition will recognise that. I'm afraid I just cannot agree with him that the best way in which services for people in north Wales could be strengthened, in the way that I think right across the Chamber we would wish to see, would be to embark upon the turmoil of a radical reform and restructuring of services. If anything was guaranteed to divert attention away from care at the front line of the sort that needs to be put right in vascular services, it would be to plunge the organisation into that sort of internal turmoil. I can assure him that at various points when this has been suggested, this has been rehearsed inside the Welsh Government and with professional advisers and with other bodies, and every time the conclusion is reached that this would be the opposite of a recipe for improvement. It would just guarantee that, for several years ahead, instead of focusing on the things that need to be done, people in north Wales in the health service would be focused on organisational matters, rather than on the standards of clinical care.