Welsh NHS performance falls
ANOTHER dismal set of statistics about the Welsh NHS’s performance landed on Thursday, April 18.
Only 48.9% of the most serious (red) calls for ambulances got a response within eight minutes. That performance was slightly down from the previous month.
The average waiting time in Accident and Emergency Departments rose to two and three-quarter hours, and the targets to reduce four- and twelve-hour waiting times in A&E were also missed.
Over 591,000 individuals are now on “patient pathways”, representing around 763,000 separate clinical places. The number of patients waiting over 36 weeks from referral to treatment is now over 244,000.
The Welsh Government is nowhere near reducing the number of patients waiting more than two years for treatment. The number of patients waiting over one year for their first outpatient appointment increased to 60,000.
Plaid Cymru’s Health and Social Care spokesperson, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, said: “On every measure, the NHS in Wales is going backwards under Labour.
“Over half of the most urgent calls to emergency responders were not answered within the target time, nearly one in five of the population are now on waiting lists, and more cancer patients are waiting longer to start their first definitive treatment.
“Make no mistake; the Labour Government cannot be trusted with our NHS.
“Labour had an opportunity to press the reset button by selecting a new First Minister and Cabinet, but they decided to go for more of the same.
“Instead of taking responsibility for their failures, the Labour Government’s default position is to deflect and blame our Doctors and the people of Wales.
“Plaid Cymru would tackle the root cause of the issues facing the NHS— invest in our staff, create a workforce strategy that addresses recruitment and retention issues across the NHS, and invest in social care.
Sam Rowlands MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister, said: “This abysmal set of statistics shows why the Labour Welsh Government needs to be held accountable for its performance running our Welsh NHS. “The Labour Government has presided over yet another increase to the detriment of Welsh patients.
“The Welsh Conservatives want to see our Welsh NHS fully resourced with the entire Barnett uplift for health and a substantial workforce boosting plan implemented to tackle these excessive waits for treatment.”
It’s the same old face trying to gloss over the same old problems for the Welsh Government.
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Eluned Morgan, said: “Despite significant demand on our NHS and some disruption from industrial action, NHS staff have worked tirelessly to deliver high-quality care and continue to reduce long waiting times.
“The latest figures show that six of the seven health boards have hit the target of ensuring 97% of all waits are less than 104 weeks. The number of pathways waiting more than two years fell again—for the 23rd month. The average waiting time for treatment is now around 21 weeks.
“Long waits for diagnostics fell to their lowest level since March 2022. Only four other months have been lower since April 2020.
“More than 14,000 people were also given the good news they don’t have cancer in February. But I am very disappointed that overall cancer performance, against the target, fell this month.
“It is disappointing to see the overall waiting list increase in size after three consecutive falls, but this is not surprising as we saw strike action in February.
“There is still a lot of work to do to improve waiting times and NHS performance. We must focus on improving productivity and efficiency in the NHS – some health boards need to do better.
“My officials and the NHS Executive will focus on this area. I also want to improve public access to information so they can scrutinise the performance of their local health board.
“Demand for emergency services continues to be significant. The number of immediately life-threatening calls to the ambulance service in March was the joint fourth highest on record. Despite this, the average response time to red calls was faster than the same period last year, and 80.3% of calls received a response within 15 minutes.
“Attendances at emergency departments were the highest on record for March, and admissions to hospital from emergency departments also increased by 10%.
“I’m disappointed to see long stays in emergency departments have increased. I expect health boards to renew their focus on reducing long stays in emergency departments, particularly for frail and older people.”
The fact remains, however, that the Welsh NHS is dysfunctional. For a minister to pass the buck to Health Boards for underperformance, especially one who’s been in post as long as Eluned Morgan, suggests a lack of accountable oversight and either an inability or lack of will to do much other than stand on the sidelines wringing hands.
In particular, “increasing productivity” (whatever that means) in a cash-strapped public service experiencing a severe staff shortage sounds like a prescription for despair.