Desperate need for more doctors

WALES has the lowest ratio of doctors per head of population in the whole of western Europe.

The surgery in Nantyffyllon was closed in November 2015 because it could not recruit doctors, thus putting further pressure on the other GP surgeries in the Llynfi Valley. The local Labour Assembly Member and MP have done nothing to resolve the situation.

The Welsh Government under Carwyn Jones recorded the highest amount of money paid to private companies on commission for locum doctors and agency nurses since the beginning of devolution. The sum of £100m per annum is paid to private companies, meaning less spent on patient care.

At the end of March 2017 there were 1,500 nursing vacancies in the Welsh NHS, thus resulting in record waiting lists for treatment. You wait longer for treatment in Wales than in any other part of the UK. You wait at least 13 weeks from the time you are diagnosed with cancer to your first treatment.

Carwyn Jones’ father avoided the waiting list for a hip replacement and “went private”. The vast majority of the Welsh population do not have the luxury of this option, they have to physically suffer on Carwyn’s waiting list for two years.

Keir Hardy’s Labour Party was the party of the people, whereas Carwyn’s is the party of the few.

Carwyn’s priority for the public sector in Wales is jobs for the boys, particularly in the NHS. Many highly paid public-sector job in Wales are occupied by cardholding members of the Labour Party.

We do not need overpaid, failed Labour politicians in the NHS in Wales, we desperately need more doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. Illtyd ap Dafydd Nantyffyllon, Maesteg