‘Clearing Welsh NHS backlog a gargantuan challenge’ – minister
WALES’ new health minister has laid bare the “gargantuan task” she faces in clearing the massive NHS waiting list.
Eluned Morgan faces the daunting dual challenge of keeping Covid infection rates as low as possible amid easing of lockdown restrictions so hospitals can restart routine work to relieve thousands of people of pain and suffering.
Latest Welsh Government figures show that a staggering 568,367 people were on NHS waiting lists for planned treatments in March 2021 – close to a fifth (18%) of the country’s population.
“I am intensely aware of the huge responsibility on my shoulders,” said Baroness Morgan. “I have got a gargantuan task ahead of me to clear that backlog... every person on that list is not a statistic, but a person who is suffering and in pain.”
Meanwhile, over the weekend, Wales reached a milestone of fully vaccinating one million adults against Covid, with 1,000,706 how having received two jabs.
WHEN Eluned Morgan was announced as Wales’ new minister for health and social services on May 13, the phrase “baptism of fire” had never seemed more apt.
The coronavirus pandemic led to our National Health Service enduring the most difficult 12 months in living memory, resulting in record-breaking waiting lists for non-Covid treatment and an overstretched workforce on its knees from exhaustion.
She is now faced with the daunting dual task of keeping infection rates as low as possible in communities so hospitals can restart routine work to relieve thousands of people of their pain and suffering.
“I am intensely aware of the huge responsibility on my shoulders,” said Baroness Morgan, speaking from the Welsh Government headquarters at Cathays Park in Cardiff.
“I am very aware that we still haven’t come out of the pandemic and that we’re going to be living with it for many months, or indeed many years, to come.
“But on top of that there are huge challenges as a result of the pandemic, especially in terms of the [waiting list] backlog.
“There are people across Wales who are in pain and are living with very, very difficult conditions, and of course it’s my responsibility to move as fast as we can to try and do something about that.
“The First Minister and Vaughan Gething have made it very clear that they are available to me and more than happy to help, particularly in these early days, to work through the labyrinth and the difficulty of the priorities that are confronting me.
“I’m very confident that I have not just brilliant ministers beside me, but a fantastic civil service who are experts in their field.”
Latest Welsh Government figures show that a staggering 568,367 people were on NHS waiting lists for planned treatments in March 2021 – close to a fifth (18%) of the country’s population.
Some 216,418 of these patients have had to wait more than nine months (36 weeks) for their treatment, which has come as a direct consequence of the Welsh Government halting huge amounts of non-Covid work since March 2020.
As a first step to addressing this problem, Baroness Morgan last week announced £100m of investment to “kick-start” the NHS and social care recovery across primary, community and hospital care.
“I have got a gargantuan task ahead of me to clear that backlog. We have to appreciate that every person on that list is not a statistic, but a person who is suffering and in pain,” she said.
“I also want to make it clear we are starting on that task of rebuilding the NHS with this £100m investment to increase the capacity in the system.
“It is going to take a long time. My predecessor Vaughan Gething was very clear that it would take the course of the whole parliament to address this issue.
“So we need to manage expectations, but ensure that there’s pain support there for people who do have to wait a long time.”
As the former minister for mental health, Baroness Morgan said she was also acutely aware of the impact the pandemic has had on the wellbeing of people across the country.
The Welsh Government’s own recovery plan makes reference to the fact that NHS mental health services “could become overwhelmed with referrals” due to the socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19.
Baroness Morgan said a priority of hers was to divert more money towards early measures of support, ideally within communities, as well as children and young people where 80% of mental health issues first arise.
“Mental health has always been a priority for the Welsh Government and we spend more money on it than any other part of the NHS,” she added. “But, of course, the pandemic has meant that everybody now understands anxiety. I don’t think there’s anybody in Wales who hasn’t suffered some form of it during this pandemic.
“At least we’ve got over the stigma of talking about mental health, but the challenge now is to make sure that we have the support mechanisms in place to make sure people can live with and work through that anxiety.
“It’s also really important that we ‘de-medicalise’ mental health issues as much as we can, and understand that if a relationship breaks down or financial problems happen that people may need support even if it’s not a medical problem.
“I know that [deputy minister for mental health and wellbeing] Lynne Neagle, who is an expert in this field and has been passionate about this issue, will now take a very strong lead on the issue of mental health.”
One positive to come out of the pandemic, she said, was Wales’ innate ability to work at pace across health board boundaries to find innovative solutions to new problems.
She highlighted the advancements in digital technology for virtual appointments, and the country’s “remarkable” vaccination effort, which has seen more than two mil
lion people being given first doses.
“We have demonstrated, through the rollout of the vaccine, that when we work together and are absolutely focused we can deliver better than almost anywhere on the planet. I want to see that energy being brought to the issue of addressing the backlog,” she added.
“I want the consultants who are at the top of their tree to be really focused on what they do best, and I want to take every other pressure away from them.
“We have demonstrated as a nation that we are up for a challenge. This is our next big challenge. I hope all of those people who work in the Welsh NHS will understand that we all have a responsibility to see what we can do to alleviate people’s pain in this really difficult situation.”
But Baroness Morgan, who served as a Member of the European Parliament for 15 years, admitted that Wales needed to address its healthcare workforce issues as a matter of urgency so that there is no longer an over-reliance on the goodwill of current employees.
“We have already started on the task of training the 12,000 NHS staff that we plan to recruit during the course of the next parliament,” she added.
“We’ve got a lot more work to do in that space. We will be developing a new medical school in north Wales, but also we want to see community medicine being developed so people get care as close to home as possible, and to make sure we address the inequalities that have become so evident during this pandemic.
“The fact that the poorest and most vulnerable people in our communities have paid the highest price is something that we have to address.”
While the worst of the acute element of Covid-19 may be behind us, the issue of “long Covid” will remain with us for a long time to come.
It is estimated that around 10% of coronavirus patients experience symptoms for many weeks and months after their initial diagnosis.
Baroness Morgan said one of the first things she has instructed her officials to look at is some concrete proposals for how to best tackle it.
“Hopefully you will see some developments on that in the next few weeks. We won’t be doing things in the way that everybody else does things – we will do things in the Welsh way that are appropriate for the Welsh public,” she said.
The most recent data from the UK Government has shown that there are currently 28 confirmed cases in Wales of the Indian “variant of concern”, which is thought to be as much as 50% more transmissible than the Kent variant which swept across the country last winter.
Officials from Public Health Wales confirmed last week that most health boards had a positive case of the B.1.617 strain, and they believe figures will continue to rise in line with what is happening in parts of England.
“But of course we do have one of the most effective test, trace and protect systems in Britain and it’s incredibly efficient,” added Baroness Morgan, a 54-year-old mum-of-two.
“So what’s important is for the public to work with us and identify when they experience any symptoms. None of us want to go back into another lockdown but we will always keep all options open.
“We are confident that because we have done so well with the vaccine rollout, and that we believe there is a high degree of protection as a result of the vaccine, that we won’t see the same rates of hospital admissions we saw during the high points of the pandemic
“We know there will be a third wave – that is absolutely clear. The question is how big is that wave going to be. We all have a responsibility to try and contain that wave as much as we can.
“So there are two ways of doing that – one is to make sure you get vaccinated, and two is to keep on following the very strict health advice that we are given.
“If we all did that, I believe we will avoid another lockdown.”
THERE are very few people who would envy the enormity of the task facing the new Health Minister.
Not only is Eluned Morgan having to contend with the back end of the pandemic and a potential third wave of infections, she’s also having to mastermind the safe restarting of routine NHS services.
Latest Welsh Government statistics make for grim reading whichever way you look at them. Close to a fifth of the entire population of Wales is currently on a waiting list for treatment, with more than 200,000 of them on there for nine months or more.
It’s likely that it will take the entire parliamentary term to get this backlog down to pre-pandemic levels – and even back then opposition parties were concerned about waits being too long.
There’s no getting away from the fact that people will come to harm as a result of being unable to access timely support for their chronic conditions, and that will inevitably have a knock-on effect for the acute end of care.
While we’re on that subject, Accident & Emergency departments and the Welsh Ambulance Service have both seen a recent increase in pressure as a result of lockdown-easing measures coming into effect.
The numbers of patients needing emergency treatment are rising month on month, leading to people waiting too long to be seen by frontline medics and targets not being met.
We haven’t even got round to mentioning the potential mental health crisis coming our way caused by the anxieties and frustrations of the pandemic.
The initial £100m investment announced by the Welsh Government last week is a welcome start to addressing the devastating impact on the lives of people on waiting lists. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Recruiting more NHS staff – and indeed retaining current ones – must be a priority, and offering them a much-needed pay rise will go some way to addressing that problem.
Workers must also be provided with adequate rest and facilities to enable them to carry out complex procedures and deliver the highest standard of care that patients deserve.
Baroness Morgan is very much aware of the scale of the challenge ahead of her, and all eyes will be on her and the Welsh Government to see where the rest of the proposed £1bn investment in NHS services will be spent.