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Minister for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething, responds to the latest NHS Wales activity and performance data published yesterday (Thursday 19 March).

Minister for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething, yesterday said:

February was another busy month for our emergency departments and ambulance service. It was encouraging to see an improvement in the four hour waiting times for emergency departments and the ambulance target was met again. After one of the busiest winters on record our hard-working and dedicated health and social care staff now face the challenge of dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.

For this reason I announced last week that monitoring and targets will be relaxed to reduce some of the burden on staff , ahead of what could be an exceptionally busy period. I want our staff to be able to focus on caring for the most vulnerable in our society as we work to stem the spread of the virus. I would also like to thank them for their fantastic work this winter, and for their dedication in tackling the new challenges that lie ahead. I will announce more detail on the publication of data in due course.