There are some 50,000 patients – the combined population of Rhyl and Prestatyn – waiting more than 36 weeks to see clinicians in North Wales, a situation that Mr Richard Johnson, Wales director of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, has described as “dire”.
Angela Burns MS – the Shadow Health Minister – has repeated Welsh Conservative calls for a recovery plan to be developed and implemented before a dire situation becomes a disaster.
Mrs Burns said:
“Waiting list targets were being missed before the pandemic started with Labour consistently letting down patients.
“Coronavirus has now led to us having the worst waiting times on record, but the pandemic has only shone a spotlight on how bad things were before, and these devastating figures demonstrate that we now urgently need a waiting time recovery plan from Labour ministers.”
Mark Isherwood MS, Shadow Minister for North Wales, said that the health minister has previously dismissed calls to have such as a plan as “foolish”, adding:
“It’s not ‘foolish’ to have a plan. Waiting times in Wales are turning into the big crisis post-pandemic and a future national disgrace, because the road from a dire situation a to disaster is all too easy.”
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