Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:38 pm on 11 May 2022.
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Foolish—that is what the then health Minister said to having a plan to tackle the NHS backlogs in Wales before the pandemic is over. And what has that led to? As it stands now, Wales is experiencing its worst accident and emergency waits, longest waiting times for treatment, and second slowest ambulance response times on record. The number of people waiting over two years is now over 60,000, and one in four Welsh patients are waiting over a year for treatment. We, of course, as Welsh Conservatives, have long been raising the increasing NHS backlogs, and it is frustrating, when we voice concerns for the need for a recovery plan, to be told that's foolish. I of course fully accept that the pandemic has caused huge pressures on our Welsh NHS, but we can't get away from the fact that there were deep-rooted issues, including workforce gaps, bed shortages and a creaking NHS estate, and that happened well before the pandemic. Unfortunately, all this was happening well before the pandemic hit us.