Welsh Lib Dems Respond to Latest NHS Wales Backlog Crisis

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have slammed Welsh Labour’s worsening record on managing the Welsh NHS as the number of people on an NHS waiting list has continued to grow, reaching 722,147, up 15,000 in a single month.

Today’s NHS data release shows that the number of people waiting for treatment in Wales is now at the highest level ever and is the equivalent to over 1/5 of the Welsh population.

Ambulance waiting times also remained poor with only 50.8% of red calls answered within target times, meaning target times have now not been reached since July 2020.

For amber category responses, which includes strokes, 63.3% of response times took over an hour.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:

“Welsh Labour’s record on the NHS continues to be extremely poor. Many of the stats we have seen today are much worse than in England and Scotland.

“I of course welcome today’s announcement by the Welsh Government on additional funding for ambulance services, but it should not be seen as a silver bullet.

“Significant delays in ambulance response times are due to backlogs at A&E departments resulting in patients having to wait in ambulances outside.

“What we need to see is real investment in primary health services in local communities, including our GPs to prevent these build-ups at emergency departments and to prevent people falling into such ill-health they require more advanced treatment.

“Welsh Labour needs to get a better handle of this crisis as soon as possible, waiting lists cannot continue to grow month after month.”