Commenting on concerns from the Royal College of Surgeons that they continue to wait for answers about what action is being taken over heart patients in Wales dying while waiting for treatment, Darren Millar AM, Shadow Minister for Health, said:
“The lethargic response of the Welsh Labour Government to serious concerns from surgeons that people are dying because of management failings in the Welsh NHS is simply not good enough.
“Waiting for heart surgery is not only distressing for patients and their families but the length of the wait has a direct bearing on whether a patient survives or has a positive outcome.
“Labour Ministers and NHS chiefs have been cavalier in dismissing calls for an inquiry into high hospital death rates and appear to have been equally indifferent to the genuine concerns of the Royal College of Surgeons.
“These concerns must be taken seriously as they represent further evidence of the need for a Keogh-style inquiry into death rates in Welsh hospitals to identify and address failings to begin driving up standards.”
