“The Welsh Government has revealed it has no idea if Local Health Boards are meeting its own National Cancer Standards.”
Responding to a question from the Welsh Conservatives, the Health Minister said all LHBs were asked to ‘assess compliance again in April…’ but ‘these reports are not now routinely shared with the Welsh Government…’
The government’s Cancer Standards were published in 2005 and set out its requirements of the NHS and Health Commission Wales in assessing cancer services.
A report by the Cancer Services Co-ordinating Group found compliance was as low as 36 per cent in some parts of Wales in 2009.
Shadow Minister for Health, Darren Millar AM, said:
“These are the government’s own cancer standards. Why bother setting them if they no longer care about performance against them?
“Only last year – during a Welsh Conservative debate – the then Health Minister called this data ‘useful’. Why then, has it now been seemingly written off?
“If performance was deemed important enough to monitor just two years ago – when many LHBs failed to meet the 100 per cent target – surely it should be doubly so now.
“There are at least thirteen lengthy and detailed documents available covering standards for cancers such as breast, lung and skin. In the government’s own words, they ‘detail key elements of the diagnostic and treatment process that patients should expect to receive’.
“In the interests of all Welsh cancer patients and their families, it is only right that the Minister should know if those expectations are being met.”
