First Minister challenged over ‘conflicting’ NHS waiting times as Senedd breaks for summer

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The First Minister has been challenged to provide a clear date for when two-year NHS waiting lists will be eliminated in Wales.

During the final Senedd plenary session before the eight-week summer recess, opposition leader Dan Thomas accused Rhun ap Iorwerth of failing to “do the detail” on health, transport, and childcare.

Reform’s Mr Thomas questioned why different cabinet ministers had provided conflicting timescales for tackling the backlog.

He said: “During the election campaign, the First Minister said that two-year waits would be eradicated within a matter of months, and then his new health minister said that they would be eradicated by the end of the four-year term. I then asked the First Minister who was right, and in a very long-winded answer, he said that he was.

“But then, just a couple of weeks ago, his finance minister, on BBC Walescast, said that two-year waits would be gone in 12 months – so, in other words, a year. Now, a year is a lot longer than a matter of months.

“So, can the First Minister finally give us some more detail: by which month will two-year waits be finally eradicated in Wales, as they are in England?”

Mr ap Iorwerth dismissed the row over the timeline as a “philosophical debate” and insisted his administration was actively delivering results.

He said: “The actions that government is taking are aligned with bringing down those two-year waits as quickly as we can. We want to do it in months.

“That is precisely what we set out to do before coming in to government, and what we are actively delivering now in government.”

Mr Thomas also pressed the Mr ap Iorwerth on the cost of Plaid Cymru’s flagship childcare policy – and accused the First Minister of failing to “do the detail”.

“We know this figure is somewhere in Plaid Cymru HQ,” said Mr Thomas. “What are the initial costings of Plaid Cymru’s childcare offer?”

Mr ap Iorwerth clarified that £55 million had been allocated in the supplementary budget to fund the first phase of the rollout, which will complete the 12.5 hours offer for two-year-olds within this financial year.

“Now, that is what is being done. I literally cannot give you more detail than that. It’s the money, it’s the timescale, and it’s going to be done within this financial year.”