Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:43 pm on 22 March 2022.
Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, we often talk about the consequences of shutting down parts of the NHS to deal with coronavirus, which has left 20 per cent of the Welsh population on an NHS waiting list, and, of those 20 per cent, one in four people are waiting over a year. But none of those lists contain the waiting times for dentistry. The waits have become so chronic that we are seeing people having to fork out hundreds of pounds, if not thousands of pounds, or taking more drastic measures into their own hands to extract teeth.
I'd like to introduce you to Adam, who's from north Wales, who had a similar problem when he tried to access dental services in north Wales. He is a teacher in Bangor, and he tried time and time again to get registered with dental practices in Menai Bridge, Bangor, Llandudno, Penmaenmawr, Colwyn Bay, Caernarfon, and, on each and every occasion, he could not get registered, because the waiting times were in excess of two years at all those practices. Now, when we see dental treatments falling by 70 per cent over the last 12 months, do you agree with me that there is a genuine problem with capacity within the Welsh dental services and people's ability to register with NHS provision?