Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 20 September 2022.
I appreciate the context is a challenging picture, to say the least, First Minister. Other parts of the United Kingdom have managed to bring the extensive waiting lists that they had for the two-year period down and, in fact, in some cases, eliminated those waits. In Wales, we see in excess of 60,000 individuals on those waiting lists. I had hoped that I would have heard something more tangible about the summit that you yourself referred to in July that was happening in August around orthopaedic services. Surgical hubs have been talked of at length in this Chamber by me and you in questions, but also the Royal College of Surgeons have pointed out the benefits of dedicated surgical hubs in bringing waiting times down. Now, I appreciate that surgery happens at all district general hospitals, but the definition of a surgical hub, as defined in other parts of the United Kingdom, allows for all of the procedures to take place in a secure setting, and ultimately a secure staffing base, to allow the processes to continue to bring those waiting times down. Can you update us today as to the roll-out of surgical hubs here in Wales, and what resources has the Welsh Government made available to health boards to allow for those establishments to be created within our district general hospitals?