Thank you, Minister, for your statement, although I have to say that I'm disappointed by the lack of courtesy that you've extended to Members of the Senedd who have a direct interest in the hospital to which your statement has referred. As you will know, I've taken a great interest in the services at Glan Clwyd Hospital for many years, and yet, you didn't even give me the courtesy of a briefing before your statement this afternoon, nor did you give other Members who represent that hospital the courtesy of a direct briefing either.

You say that this is targeted intervention, but nothing could be further from the truth. It's a scattergun approach that you are now taking in north Wales. We have targeted intervention already for mental health services, for strategy, planning and performance, for leadership, including governance, transformation and culture, and for engagement because of the poor engagement with patients, public, staff and stakeholders. Yet, today, you've announced even more targeted intervention, this time at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in respect of its leadership, which is already in targeted intervention, we are told, its mental health services, which are already in targeted intervention, or so we're told, and, of course, its vascular services now and emergency department. I have to say it's long overdue in terms of intervention required for those.

Some aspects of these services, which you say you are now putting into targeted intervention, have been in special measures or targeted intervention for seven years—seven long years. In fact, the seven-year anniversary is this week that mental health services have been in special measures. This week. It's the same with the leadership issues. And yet, time and time again, we have Ministers here, including your predecessors, who come and say, 'We're determined to get things changed. We're determined to kick things into shape. We need to move things on, with pace.' That word, 'pace', seems to make all the difference in your ministerial statements, doesn't it? Well, the reality is it doesn't. When does targeted intervention on such a wide number of things actually become special measures? Because I don't know, and I don't think it's very clear to the public either. You said that if there was not improvement in vascular services within three months, the health board would face consequences. Well, if this is the only consequence they are facing, another targeted intervention label, I don't think they've got much to be concerned about, frankly, because we know that targeted intervention doesn't work. It hasn't worked for seven years, as I've already said.

If you've got a leadership of a health board that is absolutely incapable of making improvements, why aren't you moving that leadership on? Why are you saying that we now need to appoint another executive director, at huge cost to the taxpayer, this time for safety and improvement? Why can't the extremely highly paid executive team already in place at the health board deliver the improvements that they are employed to do? That is their job. And if they're not up to it, they can ship out and go somewhere else, because we don't want them in north Wales. We want a team that works, that delivers the improvements that we've been promised. Because people are being let down, patients are being let down, the staff are being let down with the appalling working environment that many of them are having to endure, as a result of this dysfunctional health board that you as a Welsh Government have also been incapable of turning around over all this time.

You talk about the emergency services at Glan Clwyd needing intervention—and they do—but what about elsewhere in north Wales? What about down the road in Wrexham Maelor Hospital? That hospital has actually had worse emergency department performance over the past 12 months. In eight out of the past 12 months it's had worse performance figures than Glan Clwyd Hospital, so why have you left that out of this targeted intervention approach? You talk about a bullying culture, you talk about staff not being listened to, you talk about a culture of fear. We heard reports about the situation in Ysbyty Gwynedd, with staff there complaining about those things just a couple of weeks ago. Why isn't that hospital being put in targeted intervention for these things? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

You now tell us you're going to work with the health board, rather than work for the health board, in order to sort these problems out, and you've appointed Improvement Cymru as though it's some white knight on a horse that's going to ride in and turn this situation around. Why on earth haven't you deployed Improvement Cymru before? This organisation has been in place for years, and yet you haven't deployed them up until today. Why don't you use the experts that are out there to turn the situation around? Why not call the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in to turn around the emergency departments in north Wales? Why not call in the royal college that did the reports on the vascular services to actually come in and turn that situation around? Because they know best, I would suggest, in my view. I'll come to my concluding remarks now, Deputy Presiding Officer.

You say that you want to improve things with pace, and you say that this situation will be carefully monitored and reviewed, and yet you've said the next tripartite meeting won't take place until the end of October. That doesn't sound like an organisation that's going to make significant improvements at pace, if you're prepared to wait until the end of October for a further tripartite meeting. Minister, I have absolutely zero confidence that Welsh Government targeted intervention in these extra areas, on top of the other targeted intervention, is going to make any difference at all in this health board. We need to kick the current leadership out that has been failing people for so long. That's the only way to drive the significant culture change—