From BBC Wales today:

There were also the highest attendances at A&E departments since the pandemic began and waiting time performance was the worst on record.

The target is that 95% of patients should be seen within four hours but that fell to 69.8% in July.

This dropped as low as 44.7% at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Denbighshire and 43.8% at the new Grange University Hospital in Torfaen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58267774

In July, NHS Scotland saw 85% within 4 hours and only one recorded less than 80% – NHS Lanarkshire at 79.6% seen in 4 hours.

So, overall NHS Scotland operating 20% better and tow Welsh boards only half as good as NHS Lanarkshire?

These are shocking figures but opposition parties appear only at the end to call them ‘bleak’ or ‘catastrophic.’

The Conservatives called the figures “catastrophic”, saying Wales should be seeing improvements after it moved from the peak of the pandemic.

Health spokesman Russell George said: “To record the worst ever A&E waiting times and the longest NHS treatment waiting list in the same month shows a complete lack of leadership.”

Plaid Cymru said the figures painted a bleak picture and called for a long-term plan.

“We cannot be trapped in an endless cycle where waiting times are getting increasingly worse and the only solution the government can come up with is to provide short-term fixes which change very little in the long run,” said health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth.

The Minister, Eluned Morgan MS, is not mentioned, never mind photographed.

But in Scotland:

SCOTLAND’S casualty departments have recorded their joint-worst performance in three years with more than a fifth of patients waiting longer than four hours.

Rivals accused Health Secretary Humza Yousaf of ignoring a “crisis” after A&E wards posted near record-low waiting time stats for the third week running.

Scottish Conservative public health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the figures showed a “fully-fledged crisis”.

“Humza Yousaf has to start listening to NHS staff. A summer of inaction and delay is harming frontline services,” he said.

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the statistics laid bare the disaster that was unfolding in A&E services.

She said: “The SNP needs to get its act together, start listening to frontline staff and patients, and re-mobilise the NHS so that people do not have to end up at the front door of A&E.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton staff were doing their best to cope with Covid pressures but the NHS was on its knees.

“The pressures have been building for months but the health secretary has been dawdling on an NHS Recovery plan,” he said.