South Wales West MS

DIRE warnings have been issued in the past few weeks about the unacceptable delays in Wales for patients needing treatment for eye conditions.

One leading doctor has even gone as far as to claim that a

“tidal wave of blindness” is on its way with more than 78,000 at risk patients facing the prospect of delays causing irreversible harm to them.

Figures released in April show that more than half are waiting beyond the target time for treatment.

In the past, RNIB Cymru have issued warnings about the consequences of these delays.

Eyesight is precious so anything that risks it must be eliminated but the Welsh Labour Government has an abysmal track record is dealing with delays to treatment in many different areas of healthcare.

What Welsh Labour should be doing is drawing up a workforce plan, as has just happened in England, which will set out exactly where the gaps are in provision of staff and where recruitment should be focused.

The funding for health has been increased by the UK Government with the full Barnett consequential already pocketed by the Welsh Government.

Wales gets £1.20p for every £1 spent on health care in England but it spends just £1.05p on health care.

The rest is frittered on vanity projects but the main priority for Labour, backed by Plaid

Cymru, seems to be creating 36 more politicians to sit in

Cardiff Bay.

More jobs for the boys.

Only the Welsh Conservatives opposed the plan which will cost Welsh taxpayers £120m over five years. This would pay for 650 more nurses.

Labour is also presiding over a GP-access disaster with a fifth of all GP practices closing over the past decade; a dental desert with practices turning private or closing altogether and waiting lists of more than

700,000 people – one in five of the population.

Those waiting include cancer patients with half of them experiencing delays to the start of their treatment.