Commenting on the publication of a Welsh Government-commissioned report that recommends ‘a new Welsh approach to the publication of death rates in hospitals’ and concludes that ‘RAMI cannot be used to compare the quality of care between different healthcare systems’ – Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Health Darren Millar AM said:
“For Welsh Conservatives – the answer is not to blame the data – the answer is to look at the problems.
“I have serious concerns over the reform of statistics that recently showed 11 out of 17 district general hospitals have higher death rates than should be expected.
“Public confidence in the Welsh NHS has taken a big knock in recent years due to poor performance against key targets. But, instead of getting to grips with these issues and investing in our NHS, Carwyn Jones and Welsh Labour have signalled an intention to scrap the targets and measures which paint them in a bad light.
“Today Welsh Conservatives will lead a Senedd debate calling for an independent Keogh-style inquiry into standards of care in the Welsh NHS.
“Such an inquiry will help to expose the root causes of poor performance in the Welsh NHS and put these right once and for all.
“Professor Keogh has himself raised concerns over Welsh mortality data and senior Labour MP Ann Clwyd has supported our calls for an inquiry.
“Instead of giving excuses for poor performance and denying that a problem exists, we need to see determined action from the Welsh Labour Government to ensure that hardworking NHS staff have the resources to provide the high quality services which patients deserve.”
