Labour describes as ‘petty point scoring’ the need for cancer and waiting list backlog to be tackled

During First Minister’s Questions yesterday (February 9), Andrew RT Davies MS – the Welsh Conservative Senedd Leader – cited the shocking report from Macmillan Cancer Support that indicated around  3,500 people are  “missing” from treatment services since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Davies also referenced the awful waiting list figures that show 530,371 patients are currently sat on an NHS waiting list which equates to 1 in 5 people in Wales.

In response, the First Minister described the Welsh Conservative insistence on ramping up cancer treatment services and tackling waiting list backlogs – which were poor before the pandemic – as “petty point scoring”.

Mr Davies said:

“The 1 in 5 people currently sat on a waiting list in Wales or the thousands of people waiting cancer diagnoses would be insulted to hear the Labour First Minister describe the need to improve services as ‘petty point scoring’.

“It shouldn’t come as a surprise bearing in mind Labour’s Health Minister has previously described as ‘foolish’ formulating a plan to deal with backlogs before the pandemic is over.

“Saving lives and preventing suffering is not ‘petty point scoring’ and having a plan to deal with it is not ‘foolish’. The first business of any government is to save and protect lives, and it’s certainly what a Welsh Conservative Government would do.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on problems in the Welsh NHS and shown just how deep they are. Welsh Conservatives would urgently implement recovery plans in place in all areas of government so we can rebuild Wales’ public services.”