People of Wales deserve a better health service
The threat to the A&E department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant is indicative of a wider problem facing the NHS in Wales, argues Leanne Wood AM
YOU can travel from the birthplace of Aneurin Bevan to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in just under 45 minutes.
But today, the dire situation facing my local A&E department is a million miles away from the vision outlined by the founder of the NHS for our most treasured public service 70 years ago.
Bevan’s vision for the NHS was based on a localised medical service in his own valley. How would he feel now, seeing Labour presiding over the closing of local health services?
We have all seen it for ourselves – the Health Service in Wales is in crisis.
Target after target missed, ambulances queuing outside hospitals, and waiting rooms full.
For the people I represent in the Rhondda, the latest challenge is to prevent the downgrading of the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.
The campaign has already secured overwhelming support.
Protests and public meetings have reminded us of the power of community action, and our cause has made national headlines and already it’s shifted positions.
The two options that were previously on the table have now been extended to three – keeping a full 24-hour consultant-led service is now an additional option that is being further considered.
This shift has happened because of people power.
However, it is a cause of widespread anger and regret that whilst the people have made their voices heard, the Labour Welsh Government isn’t listening.
The Labour party – responsible for the NHS in Wales since 1999 – has adopted an approach which is both dangerous to patients and insulting to health professionals.
When it comes to accepting responsibility, the Government just don’t want to know.
It is only natural for elected politicians to be seen campaigning outside the Royal Glam, but I also want to see them knocking on the door of the Labour Welsh Government – asking how they have allowed it to come to this?
The surreal spectacle of Labour politicians protesting against the failures of an NHS that they are responsible for – without taking ownership of the crisis – just isn’t good enough.
A cross-party campaign must be allowed to ask the searching questions. Labour run the NHS in Wales – this is the time for some to show introspection not obfuscation.
My heart goes out to the senior managers at Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board who face unimaginable strain.
So, what is to be done?
First, we need an alternative.
If we are to restore trust in politics and politicians, warranted criticism must always be followed by workable solutions.
That is why Plaid Cymru is proposing to transform the A&E at Royal Glam into a research centre – an academic institution tailored to the latest innovation in emergency medicine.
This will strengthen our A&E and be a significant and positive step to ensure the hospital attracts and retains medical expertise.
This proposal builds on our plans published back in 2014 to train and recruit an additional thousand doctors.
If the then Labour government hadn’t ridiculed and dismissed those fully costed plans then, many doctors would now be well on their way to becoming fully trained and we wouldn’t be facing such a difficult situation now.
This A&E research centre would usher in a much-needed environment change for the A&E department which has seen decline in recent years due to this threat of a downgrade.
It would make it a much more attractive place to work.
Since our A&E has been under threat of having services removed for the last six years, it is hardly surprising that many consultants do not wish to work there.
The NHS is a source of so much pride for our nation, but we cannot expect people to want to work there in conditions which are unsafe and under-resourced.
Second, we need accountability. Labour are happy to apportion blame whilst claiming that the Government is just responsible for funding, not outcomes.
This is at best, confusing, at worst, misleading. Any Labour politician cannot, in good conscience, wash their hands of this growing crisis. Thirdly, we need ambition.
The current Welsh Government seems content for us to sit at the top of all the wrong league tables – the worst waiting times in the UK and among the highest number of preventable deaths in Europe.
Our nation deserves and needs a government that refuses to rest until our NHS is performing in a better, smarter and safer way.
That is Plaid Cymru’s offer to people in Wales