Since 2018, the policy in Wales is that eye care and the kind of care that is provided is based on the level of risk. It was innovative in that regard, with patients being seen according to how much risk they face. And the highest risk factor is for those who face the risk of irreversible harm. And for people with eye problems, that means the risk of losing their sight. Now, in order for a system like that to work, people have to be seen within a specific time frame. It’s as simple as that, and that’s why the target notes that 95 per cent of patients need to be seen within that time frame. It should be 100 per cent as far as I’m concerned, but that 95 per cent is statistically quite close. But we hear now that 65,000 people aren’t being seen within that specific time frame: 65,000 people facing losing their sight. 

I drew attention to this in the middle of the dark months of the pandemic, in February of last year. I was concerned about the impact of the pandemic, but we’re hopefully moving out of the pandemic now and the problems are intensifying. It’s bad enough when people are waiting in pain for orthopaedic treatment, perhaps, but we’re talking here about people who are losing their sight. 

We’ve heard about the NHS starting to receive post-COVID targets, therefore, may I ask the Minister, very simply, when does she commit not to decreasing the number of people who are waiting longer than they should, but to getting rid of these waiting times entirely? There’s no point having a system that is based on risk measures if you then leave tens of thousands of people open to the highest level of risk.