Leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has challenged the Cabinet Secretary for Health over the excessively long wait times at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd's Emergency Department.  

Darren receives regular complaints from constituents regarding the poor performance at the hospital and has repeatedly raised the matter with the Welsh Government. 

In the Senedd Chamber last week he called on the Cabinet Secretary to make a statement on the performance of emergency departments in north Wales. 

In his response, the Cabinet Secretary admitted that "Performance at emergency departments in north Wales is not where I, the public nor the staff delivering this vital service want them to be". 

Calling for change, Darren said:  

"Here we are, at the start of 2026, with record poor performance at the local hospital serving my constituents in Bodelwyddan.

"In the Glan Clwyd emergency department, fewer than a third of people are being seen within the four-hour target, and a third of people wait over 12 hours. That's not acceptable; it must change.

"One of the things that you have said that you would do is to build this new facility in Rhyl, and I welcome the fact that there is now some movement on that front, but the number of beds in that facility is woefully insufficient. We were told it would have 30 beds, back in 2013, when the plan was originally announced.

"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?" 

Speaking afterwards, Darren said: 

"The pressures at Glan Clwyd are off the scale and building a new facility at Rhyl was the perfect opportunity to address that. 

"My constituents are sick of waiting,  they are sick of waiting at emergency departments and they are sick of waiting for the situation to improve. 

"They have endured years of broken promises, and understandably have lost all faith that the situation will improve." 

Watch Darren’s contribution in the Welsh Parliament below: