National Assembly Member Mohammad Asghar has called on the Welsh Assembly Government to work with Local Health Boards to ensure handovers between ambulance services and accident and emergency departments run as smoothly as possible.
Speaking in the Senedd on Tuesday, the South Wales East AM highlighted the importance of “effective collaboration and communication between ambulance services and accident and emergency” departments.
Mr Asghar expressed concern that “success in meeting the 15-minute handover target has regularly fallen below 50 per cent at the Royal Gwent Hospital”; though he welcomed the “Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board’s recent focus” on the issue.
He asked the First Minister how the Welsh Assembly Government would be “working with Health Boards to ensure that levels of collaboration improve so that handovers between ambulance services and accident and emergency departments run as smoothly as possible”.
Speaking after the plenary session, Mr Asghar added: “Welsh ambulance service staff work so hard and too often go without due praise. Where there have been problems with patient handovers, the Assembly Government must closely monitor the situation and work with Health Boards to ensure improvements.
“I am disappointed that the Labour-Plaid administration has not listened to calls from the Welsh Conservatives to protect the health budget and I hope this does not have an adverse impact on improving our ambulance services in the future”.
