{Plaid Cymru} Labour failing on all fronts to undo BCUHB struggles

In October 2024, the Welsh Government released their special measure priorities report, which outlined their “expectations for improvements to be made over the next 6 months” in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

This included the prioritisation of reducing 52-week waits at first outpatient stage month-on-month, improving ambulance handover performance and ensuring that more patients would be seen within the national 4 and 12-hour emergency department waiting time targets.

Despite the Welsh Government marking these metrics as priorities, the latest data from BCUHB shows that the figures of all of these metrics are going the wrong way according to Mabon ap Gwynfor.

The latest data from the Health Board shows that:

• Waits of over 52 weeks rose by 2,321.
• Number of hours lost due to delays in ambulance handovers increased by almost 2,000.
• Fewer patients were seen within the national 4 and 12-hour emergency department waiting time targets, compared to the start of this six-month period.

Plaid Cymru health spokesperson, Mabon ap Gwynfor said:

“Six months on, one year waits at Betsi have increased by over 2,300, the number of hours lost due to ambulance handover delays have increased by almost 2,000 and fewer patients are waiting less than the 4- and 12-hour performance targets at emergency departments. 

“On every single metric therefore, the Welsh Government has not only failed to translate its ambitions into tangible progress, they have actually overseen a further deterioration in the quality of NHS services in North Wales from an already very low base.

“This typifies the broader inescapable reality that, despite the considerable turnover in ministerial personnel and hundreds of millions of pounds thrown at sticking plaster solutions, Labour’s record of mismanaging our precious health service is constant.   

“When it comes to the performance of the health service, Labour in Wales only knows how to deal in the currency of failure.

“With our radical plans for NHS governance reforms and reducing waiting lists, only Plaid Cymru can offer the fresh start that the people of North Wales desperately need and turn the page on a quarter of a century of Labour failings.”