First Minister: With £13.5 million of additional funding provided by the Welsh Government there has been a great improvement over the past three years.
Janet Finch-Saunders AM/AC: First Minister, what you fail to mention is that many of the specialist and complex services provided by Gobowen hospital have now been repatriated to consultants in north Wales. It is fair to say that concerns have been raised with me by general practitioners, because what is happening now is that there is a three-phase triage system that means that a patient struggling with a complex revision or a specialist need for orthopaedic treatment waits several months to see a consultant who cannot actually carry out that treatment. They are then back to square one as they are referred by the consultant to Gobowen hospital. First Minister, my constituents have asked me to ask you what steps you are taking to ensure that those patients in north Wales who require the more complex and specialist orthopaedic treatment, which is only available at Gobowen hospital, can access these specialised services quickly and without unnecessary, costly and bureaucratic delay.
First Minister: The situation that the Member has described, on the face of it, seems senseless. No-one could defend it. If she could provide me with further details, I will be more than happy to investigate the situation.