SAM ROWLANDS, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, is calling for urgent action to tackle spiralling NHS waiting lists.
Mt Rowlands, Shadow Health Minister and a harsh critic of the way the Welsh Labour Government runs the NHS in Wales was commenting on the latest NHS statistics for Wales.
He said: “I fear that we are at crisis point as waiting list figures continue to head in the wrong direction in Labour-run Wales.
“The Labour Health Minister’s latest initiatives, even if his expectations are met, will barely scratch the surface in terms of tackling these excessive, record-breaking waits for treatment. Something needs to change, fast.
“People continue to languish on lists which continue to grow with 618,200 individual patients waiting for treatment in September.
“Two-year waits remain at 23, 701 in Wales, compared with only 113 in England. The Labour Health Minister promised to eliminate these waits by March 2023 and again by March 2024, but failed to meet these targets.
“I am also greatly concerned to hear that only 50.4% of red calls, which are the most serious received an emergency/ambulance response within eight minutes in October.
“It is a truly dire situation and we need immediate action. The Welsh Labour Government must do more by eliminating restrictive guidance blocking cross-border and cross-sector working and by enacting a substantial workforce plan to boost staffing numbers, with a tuition fee refund for healthcare workers at its heart.”
