8. Will the First Minister provide an update on access to healthcare in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire? OQ59325

Llywydd, the rural nature of the Member's constituency makes it all the more important that the health board maximises the clinical opportunities provided by today's technology to avoid unnecessary journeys, improve efficiency and provide flexible access to healthcare in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire. 

Prif Weinidog, Welsh NHS waiting lists continue to dominate my inbox. One of my constituents living with osteoporosis and five broken vertebrae has had to wait two years to be seen by a pain specialist. We are still awaiting the final decision on the location of a new hospital in west Wales—a build that won't be completed until the end of this decade at the earliest. Until that time, what action is your Government taking to ensure that waiting lists are tackled and constituents such as mine are not forced to wait over 24 months in constant pain to get the treatment that they are in desperate need of? Diolch. 

Llywydd, I thank the Member for drawing attention to the work that is still going on in public consultation about the future of a new hospital for Hywel Dda University Health Board. There was a consultation meeting, I understand, in Haverfordwest last week, and there's one planned in Saundersfoot on Friday of this week. It is very important that those public consultation events—. I hope that they will draw together a local support for the plans that the health board has put forward in order to create those new opportunities.

In the meantime, while Hywel Dda, as every part of Wales, faces real pressures in providing healthcare, it did see a reduction of 62 per cent in the number of people waiting over 52 weeks for a first out-patient appointment during the last calendar year. And where there are longer waits, 80 per cent of those are concentrated in just two specialities. Those are the specialities that my colleague, the Minister for Health and Social Services, is placing a particular focus on in her discussions with the service. I can't offer, I'm afraid, just easy answers for the Member's constituents, but what they will know is that the system as a whole is making every effort it can, sustained by additional investment and the focus that the Minister brings to these matters, to bring down waiting lists and to provide services in the way I suggested in my original answer, Llywydd, in those new ways that will improve access for patients, particularly in parts of rural Wales, using everything that we have learnt in recent years.

I thank the First Minister.