5. Will the First Minister provide an update on vascular services for patients in Arfon? OQ58981

I thank Siân Gwenllian for the question, Llywydd. Over the coming weeks, a number of reports will assist the board in the necessary work of improving vascular service for patients in Arfon. That will include a recent re-inspection of the service by Health Inspectorate Wales and the report commissioned through the board’s own vascular quality panel.

Once again, I'm supporting a constituent from Arfon who has suffered terribly because of fundamental and very serious errors by the vascular unit at Glan Clwyd Hospital. I've consistently argued that the health board has destroyed a high-quality unit in Bangor for all the wrong reasons. This is just one of the poor decisions made with the approval of your Ministers over recent years, which has lead to a decline in services for people in north-west Wales.

Underinvestment of capital in Ysbyty Gwynedd is another of those poor decisions that has emerged recently. A series of senseless decisions and mismanagement has contributed greatly to the health crisis in this part of Wales. The current vascular arrangements do not work for my constituents. You've listed a number of reports—more and more reports—but what are you actually going to do to stop these heartbreaking situations that continue to arise in Glan Clwyd Hospital?

Well, Llywydd, we've looked at the history of vascular services in north Wales more than once in the Senedd. I don't agree, the health board doesn't agree and the royal colleges don't agree with what the Member has been suggesting over the years. Llywydd, the health Minister has accepted that there continue to be concerns with vascular services in north Wales and the progress in vascular improvement. Now, the Welsh Government is closely monitoring the improvement of that programme, and the national clinical lead for vascular services, who's just been appointed, has already visited north Wales, and vascular consultants working in north Wales will participate in the first all-Wales vascular conference in February. So, by collaborating in that way, with the leadership of the Minister—that is the best way of ensuring that services in north Wales are best placed for the future.