DYFED-POWYS POLICE have confirmed that Isabelle and Daniel, who were reported missing from the Cardigan area, have been found safe and well.

A spokesperson said: “We are pleased to confirm that Isabelle and Daniel have been located. Thank you to everyone who shared our appeal.”

The force had issued a public appeal earlier this week in a bid to locate the pair, prompting widespread concern and support across the community.

THE NUMBER of Welsh NHS patients waiting more than two years for treatment has fallen by 26%, according to data released by the Welsh Government on Thursday, April 17.

However, waiting times for ambulances have increased, while A&E performance continues to be under severe pressure.

The latest NHS statistics for Wales revealed that the NHS treatment waiting list remains at 793,946 pathways. 

 Two-year waits are 15,005 in Wales, compared with only 161 in England. The Labour Health Minister, now First Minister, Eluned Morgan, promised to eliminate these waits by March 2023 and again by March 2024 but failed to meet these targets. The target remains a long way off from being met.

The Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Miles, said: “I am very happy to see a significant fall in the longest waits and the overall size of the waiting list falling for the third month in a row.

“This shows what can be achieved when health boards focus on delivering services, including faster treatment and increased NHS capacity, by embracing new ways of working.

“Those efforts have been supported by our £50m additional investment.

“We still have more work to do to reach our ambitious targets, but it is encouraging to see waiting times consistently falling.

“Two-year waits have fallen to their lowest levels since June 2021 and were more than 26% lower compared to the previous month.”

However, the NHS in England has already eliminated two-year waits. At the same time, a significant number of specialisms in Wales, including orthopaedic care, are excluded from the waiting time data.

Jeremy Miles continued: “The number of pathways waiting more than a year for their first outpatient appointment has fallen for a third consecutive month and is nearly 28% lower than the peak in August 2022.

“The number of patient pathways waiting 36 weeks and the average time waiting for treatment were both lower than the previous month.

“Performance improved against the 62-day cancer target in February, increasing to more than 60%, whilst 1,800 people started cancer treatment and 13,000 people were told the good news they did not have cancer.

“A significant improvement was achieved in March in reducing the total number of delayed hospital discharges, with a drop of 114 delays over the previous month. This was the lowest delay figure over the past year and the overall second lowest since reporting began two years ago.”

However, despite the Welsh Government blowing its own trumpet, performance still lags far behind the already poor performance of the Welsh NHS against targets preceding the Covid pandemic.

James Evans MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, said: “Labour Ministers will try to claim success today, but these statistics are worse than a mixed bag.

“The reduction in two-year waits is welcome, but the fact that they still exist at all, when they haven’t for so many months in England, coupled with worsening ambulance response times, is a testament to Labour’s failure to meet their targets.

“The Welsh Conservatives want to see improvements across the board and we can only achieve that by removing restrictions to cross-border, cross-community and cross-sector capacity sharing and by, flnally, enacting a long-term workforce plan.”

A GROUNDBREAKING new weapon system developed in the UK has been successfully tested in west Wales, taking out drone swarms in the largest trial of its kind to date.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that British soldiers have trialled a Radiofrequency Directed Energy Weapon (RF DEW), which uses invisible high-frequency radio waves to disable or destroy drones mid-air.

During the live-fire exercise, held at a military range in west Wales, the Army tracked, targeted and neutralised over 100 drones using the cutting-edge system. In one test, two swarms were brought down in a single strike.

According to the MoD, the weapon is capable of disabling multiple airborne targets almost instantly by interfering with the drones’ internal electronics—causing them to crash or malfunction. Unlike conventional missile systems, RF DEW can engage threats at a fraction of the cost, with each ‘shot’ costing around 10p.

The British Government has invested more than £40 million in the development of this new technology, which is currently supporting 135 jobs in Northern Ireland and the South East of England.

With an effective range of up to 1km, RF DEW systems offer a potential alternative to traditional missile-based air defence and could be used against threats that are difficult to jam using electronic warfare.

Defence minister Maria Eagle described the trial as a major success and a showcase of British innovation. She said: “We’re continuing to strengthen our defence sector with world-class capabilities to protect the UK and boost our economy at the same time.”

Officials say the weapon could help protect key UK infrastructure from hostile or unidentified drones, including military bases and airports, where drone activity has previously caused serious disruption.