Betsi A&E delays raised in Senedd as emergency doctors warn of risks
Concerns over emergency department waiting times in Wales formed the backdrop to a sharp exchange in the Senedd over Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
During First Minister’s Questions, Darren Millar, MS for Clwyd West and leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said the health board had “just posted its worst emergency department performance figures on record”.
He told members that “almost 70 per cent of patients spend more than four hours in the accident and emergency department, and a third of people who turn up at the hospital’s front door spend more than 12 hours in that emergency department without being admitted”.
“That is totally unacceptable,” he said.
The exchange came hours after the Royal College of Emergency Medicine warned that long waits in Wales’ emergency departments are “putting lives at risk”.
New performance data show that 49.3 per cent of A&E patients waited longer than four hours in January, up from 44.0 per cent in January last year.
According to the RCEM, 11,367 people waited 12 hours or longer to be seen, treated and discharged. The college said that is nearly four times the figure for the same month 10 years ago, when 3,006 patients waited 12 hours or more, while attendances have increased by 11 per cent over the same period.
Dr Rob Perry, RCEM vice president for Wales, said: “January’s data shows the harsh reality of the situation in our EDs, and the impact it is having on patients, despite the best efforts of staff, who continue to go above and beyond – not just in January but all year round.
“Long waits for patients increase frustrations all round, but more seriously, put lives at risk.”
Mr Millar also challenged the First Minister over plans for the Royal Alexandra Hospital site in Rhyl.
He said people in north Denbighshire were promised a “brand-new hospital on the Royal Alexandra Hospital site in Rhyl with 30 beds” in 2013, including a minor injuries unit to ease pressure on Glan Clwyd Hospital.
He said the Welsh Government had now confirmed support for “massively scaled-back plans, with fewer than half of those original beds that were promised”.
Responding, First Minister Eluned Morgan said, “I think we all recognise that there’s more work to be done in Betsi Cadwaladr.”
She said there were “63 per cent fewer patients waiting for over two years”, adding that waiting lists across Wales had fallen for seven consecutive months.
On the Royal Alexandra Hospital, she said she had announced “the £33 million investment in the first phase” of the project, which she said would “save 4,400 bed days a year” and include “new step-down beds”, “four new dental suites” and expanded radiology services.
Separate Welsh Government data show there were just under 741,000 open referral-to-treatment pathways in December 2025, a decrease of around 16,900 since November. Around 5,200 pathways had been waiting longer than two years.
The First Minister said: “Seven months of the waiting list falling. The longest waits down by more than 90% from their peak. Tens of thousands more outpatient appointments delivered. This is real progress that’s making a massive difference to people’s lives.”
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