Welsh Conservatives have called on Welsh Ministers to ditch the policies, which they have admitted are forcing up NHS waiting times as new figures show more patients are waiting beyond the 26 and 36 week waiting time targets.
387,436 patients are now waiting to start NHS treatment, a rise of 72% since Carwyn Jones became First Minister in December 2009.
In June 2011, the Welsh Government admitted that “following the One Wales commitment to reduce the use of the private sector and the repatriation of patients from England, capacity has been constrained.”
Darren Millar AM, Shadow Minister for Health and Social Services, said, “It is a shameful indictment of Labour’s record that more than one in eight people in Wales are waiting for hospital treatment.
“The Welsh Government set a principled standard that no patient should wait longer than 36 weeks for treatment – yet their own data shows that this target was breached 6,870 times in the last month alone.
“Ministers have admitted that their own policies are responsible for driving up NHS waiting times for hospital treatment.
“Welsh patients are now waiting considerably longer, often in pain, discomfort and distress, simply to appease the ideological whims of Labour Ministers.
“NHS patients should be prioritised and treated based on clinical need, not the dogmatic and out-dated socialist doctrines of politicians.
“Ministers need to ditch the policies which are forcing up waiting times, scrap their £1billion NHS cuts which are holding back vital resources from the frontline and start putting patients first.
“Cross border services are a critically important part of NHS provision, particularly in North and Mid-Wales, where patients rely on them to receive treatment.”
