Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, has labelled the First Minister’s NHS targets review a ‘clear admission of failure’.
A decision by Carwyn Jones to announce upcoming changes to targets follows years of failed performance in Wales, during a period when the Welsh Government has imposed record-breaking NHS budget cuts.
Key targets for A&E waits, cancer referral to treatment times and ambulance response times have not been met once in the past year. The target of 95 per cent of Accident & Emergency patients being seen within four hours has not been met once since 2009. The First Minister had previously promised that cancer waiting time targets would be met by March 2013. That promise was not met and a new October target has been set by the government.
In all, one in eight of us is on an NHS waiting list. For the first time, the number of people waiting more than 36 weeks topped 11,000 in latest statistics. The target is zero.
Commenting Mr George said:
“Carwyn Jones has thrown in the towel at the expense of Welsh patients.
“This review is a clear admission of his Government’s failure on the NHS, yet – rather than improve it – the First Minister will now just bury bad news.
“Scrapping targets because they can’t be met – under the veil of transparency – is absolutely disgraceful.
“Month after month waiting times get worse in Powys and across Wales – and month after month the First Minister has tried to sweep his mismanagement under the carpet.
“It is his record-breaking budget cuts that have heaped immense pressure on hardworking frontline staff and his inability to support NHS teams that has led to questionable standards of care.”
The Montgomeryshire AM has also challenged the Welsh Finance Minister to reverse the Government’s health cuts, following a damning indictment of NHS finances by the Auditor General for Wales. Huw Vaughan Thomas, has recently warned of a rising £200m annual deficit within the NHS in Wales, something that he considered ‘unsustainable’ for the future. Mr George added:
“The Auditor General for Wales has found that waiting times for both planned and emergency surgery have grown significantly worse in recent years and that is due to the Government’s lack of investment.
“In Powys, the health board is breaching both its 26-week and 36-week waiting-time targets, as a provider and commissioner of treatment, with 68 patients waiting over 50 weeks to be treated.
“The health board is facing a funding deficit of between £17-18 million and that is just part of the £200 million deficit that the Auditor General for Wales has highlighted for the whole Welsh NHS.
“Clearly something has to give, so I therefore urge the First Minister and his colleagues to reverse their NHS cuts and give patients the health service they deserve.”
