Plaid Cymru has accused the Labour government of letting patients down on GP opening hours after it emerged that one of its key manifesto commitments has not been met. A commitment to keep surgeries open into the evening and on weekends has turned out to mean that only 31% surgeries are meeting their requirement to open ‘until 6.30pm on weekdays.’
The Labour Government has said that it will begin to explore how to implement its commitment to open GP surgeries into the evening on weekdays and on Saturday mornings, in April 2013, and will attempt to do so within the existing budget.
Plaid Cymru’s Health spokesperson Elin Jones said:
“These figures show the scale of the challenge the government faces in meeting its commitment to extend opening hours and open surgeries on Saturday mornings. With this in mind, the government’s claim that this can be done at no extra cost is highly questionable.
“Plaid Cymru supports the government’s commitment to making GP surgeries more accessible in principle, but this policy is clearly not being implemented effectively. This was one of Labour’s key manifesto commitments, and yet it has decided to wait two years into its term to begin it. Labour’s lethargy is letting Welsh patients down.”
