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.”

Delays averaged 17 a day as MS demands targets, hospital-level figures and a timetable for improvement

MORE than 500 ambulance handovers at hospitals run by Hywel Dda University Health Board took longer than an hour during a single month, newly disclosed figures have revealed.

A total of 528 handovers exceeded 60 minutes in October 2025, equivalent to an average of around 17 lengthy delays every day.

Each delayed handover can leave a patient waiting in an ambulance outside hospital while the crew remains unavailable to respond to another emergency.

Even using one hour as the minimum, the 528 incidents represent more than 528 ambulance-hours spent on lengthy hospital handovers. The true figure will have been higher because every handover included in the total exceeded the hour mark.

However, the information released does not show which hospitals recorded the most delays, how long the worst handover lasted or how many ambulance hours were lost beyond the normal handover period.

It also provides no indication of whether performance improved or deteriorated in the months following October.

Claire Archibald, Reform UK Member of the Senedd for Ceredigion Penfro, obtained the figure after submitting a written question to the Welsh Government.

She has challenged ministers to publish a measurable recovery plan for West Wales, including targets for reducing delays and regular health-board-level performance figures.

The disclosure comes against a backdrop of sustained pressure throughout the Welsh emergency care system.

Official figures show that almost 96,800 people attended emergency departments across Wales in October 2025. Only 66 per cent were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, against a national target of 95 per cent.

A further 10,499 patients spent 12 hours or more in emergency departments during the month, an increase of 414 compared with September.

Problems moving patients out of hospital were also evident. On the day discharge data was collected in October, nearly 1,500 patients who were medically ready to leave hospital were still waiting for care, support or suitable accommodation.

Those patients had accumulated more than 64,100 days of delayed hospital stays between them.

Delayed discharges reduce the number of available hospital beds. This can leave patients waiting in emergency departments for admission and, in turn, prevent ambulance crews from handing over new arrivals promptly.

The latest Welsh Government figures suggest that pressure has continued well beyond October.

In May 2026, 11,066 people waited 12 hours or more in Welsh emergency departments, while only 64.4 per cent were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

There were also more than 1,300 recorded delayed discharges, involving almost 57,200 accumulated days of delay.

The median response to the most serious red-category ambulance emergencies was nine minutes and 12 seconds, outside the target range of six to eight minutes.

Ms Archibald said: “More than 500 ambulance handovers taking over an hour in a single month is deeply concerning.

“Behind every one of those figures is a patient waiting for care and an ambulance crew unable to respond to another emergency.

“The Welsh Government’s response contains many of the same general assurances we have heard before, but it does not provide a deadline, a measurable target or explain what specific action is being taken within Hywel Dda.

“Ambulance crews and hospital staff are working incredibly hard, but they are being let down by a system that is struggling to move patients safely through hospitals and back into the community.”

In its written response, the Welsh Government said it was working with Hywel Dda University Health Board, the Welsh Ambulance Service and other partners to improve patient flow, timely discharge and same-day emergency care.

Ms Archibald said the answer did not include a reduction target, timetable or detailed health-board-specific action plan.

She added: “People across Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion need to know when these delays will be reduced and how progress will be measured.

“I will continue pressing the Welsh Government for a clear and accountable plan to ensure patients receive urgent care when they need it.”

The figures leave a number of important questions unanswered, including how the 528 delayed handovers were divided between individual hospitals, the longest time any patient waited, the total operational hours lost and whether any patient-harm incidents were associated with the delays.

Ms Archibald has called for monthly handover figures to be published for each health board, alongside clear targets showing when ministers expect the number of hour-long delays to fall.

Party leader says allegations involving children in care underline the need for a Wales-wide investigation into institutional failings

THE WELSH CONSERVATIVES have renewed calls for a Wales-wide inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation following the charging of eight people in Gwent.

Gwent Police said eight British nationals had been charged with more than 30 offences as part of an investigation into alleged group-based child sexual exploitation.

Responding to the development, Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar MS said the allegations represented a serious betrayal of children who should have been protected by the care system.

“These are horrific allegations representing an unforgivable betrayal of children who should have been protected by the care system,” he said.

“We now have reports of abuse in Gwent, Swansea, Rhyl and rural Wales. It is essential that the Welsh Government commissions a Wales-wide inquiry to ensure that no stone is left unturned in exposing the extent of these crimes.”

Mr Millar said any inquiry should examine the conduct of schools, councils, health services and other public bodies, including whether opportunities to protect vulnerable children had been missed.

He added: “We need to understand why opportunities to intervene were missed and whether institutional failings allowed abuse to continue unchecked.

“We must ensure justice for victims, hold perpetrators to account and get to grips with any systemic failings that allowed such abuse to take place.”

Peter Fox MS, the party’s Shadow Minister for Local Government and Communities, said he had been deeply shocked by the allegations, particularly reports that the alleged victims had been in care.

“Our hearts go out to the victims who have bravely come forward during this investigation,” he said.

“They have suffered so much and for too long. Justice must now prevail.”

The Welsh Conservatives have repeatedly pressed the Welsh Government to establish a national inquiry examining the scale of group-based child sexual exploitation in Wales and the response of public authorities.

The charges have not yet been tested in court. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.