Welsh Conservatives attack Labour’s record on health as Senedd returns for new term

Emily Price 

The Welsh Conservatives have attacked the Welsh Labour Government’s record on health as the Senedd reconvened for a fresh term.

On Tuesday (September 16), Tory leader Darren Millar revealed the results of a freedom of information request which showed that over 38,000 Welsh patients had died whilst on an NHS waiting list since the sixth Senedd began in May 2021.

During questions to the First Minister, Mr Millar warned that despite the hard work of frontline NHS staff, more than 600,000 people in Wales had been left “languishing” on a waiting list.

‘Scandal’

He described the results of his party’s FoI requests as a “national scandal” and pressed Baroness Eluned Morgan to declare a “health emergency”.

It comes following a debate prior to the Welsh Parliament’s summer recess which saw Members of the Senedd reject calls for a health emergency to be declared.

NHS waiting times remain one of the biggest challenges for Eluned Morgan with the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic hampering her government’s ability to meet its own targets.

Baroness Morgan – a former health minister – has been promising to eliminate two-year waits for treatment for the last two years, but has has failed to meet this target.

Speaking in the Chamber, the First Minister said she did not accept that the Welsh NHS is “broken”.

She said: “I don’t think a system that has 2.7 million appointments every month in a population of 3 million people is a system that’s broken.

“I think it’s a system that’s working for the vast majority of people in this country.

“Do we need more? Of course we need more. Do we need it to work better? Of course we do – and that’s why it is a priority area for us as a government.

“That’s why we have invested an extra 1.5 billion in Welsh public services.

“A huge amount of that money went to towards the NHS – specifically toward bringing those longest waiting lists down and over the course of the year that is happening.”

‘Risk’

Mr Millar argued that it was the First Minister’s responsibility to ensure that the Welsh NHS has the capacity to keep up with the demands that are placed upon it.

He said: “There were a series of a Welsh Conservative requests that went in over the summer.

“Since May 2021, over 38,000 Welsh patients have died whilst waiting to get their treatment.

“It is a national scandal – and what’s worse is the fact that our waiting times for test and treatment are still the worst in Britain.

“Thousands more people across Wales are at risk of the same fate as those 38,000 who’ve already died.

“Will you now take seriously our call given these deaths to declare a health emergency so that we can make sure that the people of Wales get the service that they need when they’re in life and death situations?”

‘Challenged’

Baroness Morgan said there are many patients on NHS waiting lists that are “very old” and have “very challenged health situations”.

She said: “What we did see in June was a 27 per cent decrease in the number of people waiting more than two years for treatment.

“That is something I think should be celebrated – and the number of people to receive their first outpatient people decreased too.”

She added: “Almost anybody who has anything to do with health understands that one of the biggest challenges is actually the relationship with care.

“We do need to invest in the care service and that is why we have made sure that we pay the real living wage to care workers in Wales.

“And it is important to recognise that they are a massive contribution towards getting the flow through the hospitals.”

Emergency

The results of the Tories FoI requests broken down by health board revealed that 14,180 patients died on a waiting list at Aneurin Bevan Health Board since May 2021 along with 5,934 people at Betsi Cadwaladr, 2,234 at Cardiff and Vale Health Board, 1,920 at Cwm Taf Morgannwg, 6,353 at Hywel Dda and 6,571 at Swansea Bay Health Board.

1,182 patients died on a waiting list at Powys Teaching Health Board since the last Senedd election – although this data is only from May 2022 due to a “change in processing”.

Speaking after Plenary, Mr Millar said: “Labour, with routine support from Plaid Cymru, has broken the Welsh NHS.

“Since the last Senedd election, almost forty thousand patients have died while waiting for NHS treatment – it is a national scandal.

“Instead of focussing on patients, Labour and Plaid chose to focus on the constitution.

“Instead of delivering more operations, they opted to create more politicians. Instead of speeding up access to healthcare, they focussed on speed limits.

“The Welsh Conservative would declare a health emergency to direct the resources and apparatus of Government at tackling these excessive NHS waiting times, guaranteeing one year maximum waits for treatment.”