NHS patients promised two-year waits to be 'eliminated' in 'matter of months'

The Welsh government's has vowed to wipe out the longest waits patients face in the country's health service.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said action has started now to tackle two-year waits, while his health minister said they will be "eliminated" in "a matter of months".

Neither ap Iorwerth or Mabon ap Gwynfor gave a precise definition of how long it would take.

The comments come as Reform's Dan Thomas told the Plaid Cymru leader to give his "full attention" to the NHS, accusing him of being more interested in international matters and independence.

Latest figures for March show that just under 2,600 people are waiting more than two years - a statistic that had fallen for the tenth month in a row.

In his first statement to the Senedd, Mabon ap Gwynfor said: "We will see two year waits eliminated within a matter of months."

The cabinet minister for health and care said his government had inherited a health system "beset by crises that is perhaps more precarious and more vulnerable than at any point in its history".

He said his "immediate priority" was to tackle the waiting list backlog, promising an "ambitious national programme to expand surgical and diagnostic hubs across Wales to reduce waiting times, improve access and increase capacity".

Reform's James Evans demanded to know how many months that would take.

"Because 'within months' might sound good in a press release, but it means very little to someone who's waiting in pain at home for their operation," he said.

The minister did not define what he meant in his answer.

His comments came after Rhun ap Iorwerth came under pressure over NHS waits in a historic First Minister Questions, the first to be taken in the Senedd by a non-Labour first minister.

Reform UK's Dan Thomas put it to the first minister that he and ap Gwynfor had said different things about two-year waits.

"During the election campaign, you said that two-year waits could end in a matter of months, but your new health minister has said it will happen within four years," he said.

He said in England such waits had been "virtually eradicated some time ago, which proves that ending two-year waits can be achieved".

Ap Iorwerth said: We want to cut waiting lists in the short term, and we want to build a sustainable health and care service for the long term.

He said the "priority for us now is to tackle, in the coming months, those issues of the longest two-year waits."

"Work has already begun to put in practice the changes that are necessary to tackle that very issue," he said.

Thomas said ap Iorwerth's social media had highlighted the "non-devolved matter of international relations as being within your remit as first minister, an area which enjoys a £9m budget". He said the money should be spent on the NHS.

The Welsh government maintains a network of international offices, which it uses to promote Welsh businesses abroad.

Thomas added that the Plaid leader should give his "full attention to the NHS and to focus on the day job".

Meanwhile, the first minister told Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar that ministers are considering a third Menai crossing, after the Menai Suspension Bridge closed three times in two days in May.

But ap Iorwerth added: "It's not a structure that we need; it's an answer."

Millar said the bridge was causing "misery for residents, commuters and businesses across north Wales".