Llywydd, I don't accept the general picture that the Member paints, of this being a condition that has always been a problem in the Welsh NHS. Waiting times in the Welsh NHS had been falling for four and five years in a row up until March of 2019 and beyond. It is the impact of the pandemic that has built up those lengthy waiting lists, in every part of the United Kingdom. As I said in my original answer, long waits, the longest waits in the Welsh NHS, fell by 23 per cent between the end of March and the end of October of last year, and that includes gains in orthopaedics, which is one of the most difficult specialities to see a way of resolving the backlog and increasing activity, because of the impact that COVID continues to have, in the way that operating theatres and other procedures are carried out in the Welsh NHS. Of course we want to see those waits brought down further, and, while people are waiting, I think there is a role for primary care clinicians in helping people to manage their conditions in the best way possible.

In Swansea Bay particularly, the Member will be aware that the health board is intending to concentrate planned orthopaedic care in the Neath Port Talbot Hospital, freeing up capacity at Morriston, retaining 10 beds in Morriston for the most complex cases, and, in doing so, to have dedicated beds that will allow even more procedures to be resumed as fast as possible.