β€˜Dire’ hospital waiting list needs immediate attention – before it is too late

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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.

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“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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