THE MS for Clwyd West has hit out at Betsi Cadwaladr after people were forced to queue for up to three hours to be vaccinated in Llandudno.

Darren Millar said the health board had "put vulnerable people at risk" as they had to wait in cold weather conditions to access their Covid vaccine jabs at Ysbyty Enfys on Wednesday.

The site is one of three vaccination centres being used by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) for its rollout of the vaccine to priority groups including key workers and at-risk individuals.

“Whilst I am extremely pleased to see the vaccine rollout ramping up in North Wales, it is totally unacceptable to expect vulnerable people to queue for three hours in the freezing cold to access their Covid vaccine jabs," said Mr Millar.

“While there will always be teething problems with a major project like this you don't see similar scenes elsewhere in the UK so they shouldn't be happening in North Wales on a cold promenade with freezing weather conditions.

“The health board have said that the delays were due to the training of 'new vaccinators', but this is no excuse to put vulnerable people at risk and I urge the Health Board to ensure that we do not see further delays of this kind in any part of North Wales.”

BCUHB said the long queuing times were a result of it having to adapt to increased demand at the centre and because people had arrived early for their vaccination.

“We are aware there were significant delays at our Mass Vaccination Centre at Ysbyty Enfys Llandudno yesterday," said Bethan Jones, central area director for BCUHB. “We apologise to everyone who experienced a long wait for their vaccine.

“New vaccinators arrived at the site to support the scaling up of our programme and these individuals needed to be trained before they were able to begin vaccinating.

“Also, a number of people due to be vaccinated arrived at the Mass Vaccination Centre some time prior to their appointment which resulted in a number of people having to wait longer.

“Therefore, we would like to remind everyone who has received an invite for the vaccination to arrive at the time that has been allocated to them, not any earlier.

“We are doing all we can to ensure that everyone is seen in a timely manner.”