Senedd: North Wales MS challenges minister over record A&E waits
Fewer than one in three patients at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd’s emergency department are being seen within the four-hour target, with a third waiting more than 12 hours, a Member of the Senedd has told the health secretary.
Darren Millar MS (Conservative, Clwyd East) raised the performance figures directly with Cabinet Secretary for Health Jeremy Miles during questions in the Senedd, describing the situation at the Bodelwyddan hospital as “record poor.”
“In the Glan Clwyd emergency department, less than a third of people are being seen within the four-hour target, and a third of people, actually, have to wait over 12 hours in the emergency department,” Mr Millar told the chamber.
“That’s not acceptable; it does need to change.”
The exchange came in the same week that the Royal College of Emergency Medicine warned lives are being put at risk by long waits across Wales.
National figures showed nearly half of all A&E patients in Wales waited longer than four hours in January, while 11,367 people waited 12 hours or longer — almost four times the figure for the same month a decade ago.
Mr Millar also challenged the Welsh Government’s planned new health facility in Rhyl, which was first announced in 2013 with 30 beds. The scheme now proposes 14 beds.
“How can you, with your hand on heart, say that 14 beds in the new facility in Rhyl are going to be sufficient to meet with the massively increased demand since 2013, to alleviate the problems at Glan Clwyd Hospital that my constituents all too often have to face?” he said.
Mr Miles acknowledged the performance was not defensible but pushed back on the framing of the bed numbers.
“I honestly don’t mean to diminish the seriousness of the point that he’s making, but if we continue to give the impression that what we are building is hotels, not hospitals, the public are never going to understand what we are trying to do with the health service,” he said.
The Cabinet Secretary argued the 14-bed facility at the Royal Alexandra in Rhyl was designed for a modern, integrated health service that requires fewer inpatient beds than older models of care.
“Those 14 beds are the equivalent of 220 patients a year, and the equivalent of 4,000 — 4,000 — bed days,” Mr Miles told the Senedd, adding that the released capacity at Glan Clwyd would amount to 4,400 bed days.
“That is a huge number that is being released by this extra capacity at the Royal Alex. That’s good news both for Rhyl and for Glan Clwyd.”
Mr Millar visibly challenged the minister’s figures during the exchange, continuing to speak from his seat as Mr Miles attempted to set out the case.
The minister acknowledged that emergency department performance “is not where I, the public nor the staff delivering this vital service want them to be” but did not commit to increasing the bed count or set a specific deadline for improvement at Glan Clwyd.
Dr Rob Perry, RCEM Vice President for Wales, said this week that January’s national data showed “the harsh reality of the situation in our EDs” and called on the Welsh Government to make a public commitment to end overcrowding.
“Long waits for patients increase frustrations all round, but more seriously, put lives at risk,” Dr Perry said.
The worsening A&E picture sits alongside separate figures showing wider NHS waiting lists have fallen to their lowest level in almost three years, with the total number of open patient pathways dropping to just under 741,000 in December 2025.
“These aren’t just numbers — they are real people having treatment in Welsh hospitals,” First Minister Eluned Morgan said of the waiting list figures.
But for patients arriving at Glan Clwyd’s emergency department, the numbers tell a different story.
“It does need to change,” Mr Millar said.
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