It is no secret that our health service is under enormous pressure and our hardworking staff are facing increasingly difficult conditions.

I am sure many of you reading this column will know someone on a waiting list for NHS treatment. You might even be waiting yourself.

Latest health figures show that NHS treatment waiting lists remain at just shy of 800,000 pathways, which is the equivalent of nearly 1-in-4 Welsh people.

Not only that but more than 8,700 patients are waiting over two years for treatment, whereas in England the figure is just 168 – despite the country’s population being 18 times larger than Wales’.

It looks like Eluned Morgan MS has spectacularly failed to meet her promise of eliminating two year waits by March 2023…

Locally, if you look at Aneurin Bevan Health Board, we have waiting lists with 140,425 pathways open.

My Welsh Conservative colleagues and I have been clear that all government efforts should be directed at driving down NHS waiting lists. That should be everyone’s aim really.

However, it was deeply alarming to recently find out that Aneurin Bevan Health Board was spending £3.3m on installing solar panels at the Grange hospital.

That feels like a really bad use of public money which could have been better spent on much-needed improvements to facilities at The Grange.

That’s not all.

It was then revealed that the health board has been wasting obscene amounts of taxpayer cash on nonsense woke issues.

Health bosses paid Trans Aid Cymru £2,400 to deliver ‘bespoke training sessions’ and handed over cash for programmes including a ‘trans inclusion session’ and a ‘male menopause’ event.

Nearly £8,000 has been spent on Stonewall membership – an organisation which has campaigned for children to have access to puberty blockers.

The number of diversity, equality, and inclusion officers employed at the health board has risen with 4 members of staff as of 2025 with an additional post still unfilled. The salary for these members of staff is up to £76,000.

Health boards should not be wasting money on solar panels, woke training sessions, diversity officers, and membership to divisive organisations.

They should be pumping everything into giving my constituents timely access to healthcare.

As ever, if there is anything I can do to help please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing [email protected] or by calling 01633 215138.