Opinion: Labour has betrayed Powys patients over health
A £120 million fund announced to cut waiting times across Wales will not cover Powys residents receiving care in English hospitals.
A recent Powys Health Board decision means that patients who have their care in English hospitals are now having operations intentionally delayed because Powys Teaching Health Board cannot afford to pay.
This is a betrayal of border communities who rely on cross-border care. This is not about capacity or lack of doctors or nurses – this is about money.
I've challenged the Cabinet Secretary for Health on this. People here pay the same taxes, they deserve the same treatment!
This crisis doesn't stop at cross-border care. Our NHS in Wales is sadly in the worst state it's ever been. Nearly one in five people in Wales are on a waiting list. Thousands are stuck in pain for over two years. A&E targets are being missed month after month, with long waits and care in corridors.
Ambulances are queuing outside hospitals not able to respond back to the communities for 999 calls. GP practices are struggling under immense pressure.
NHS dentistry is close to collapse with less than half of the Welsh population able to access NHS dental care.
In Powys, as in the rest of Wales, people are living in pain or giving up on trying to get an appointment altogether.
However you look at it, things badly need to change in Wales. The staff do their best in challenging circumstances and my thanks go to each and every one on the frontline.
Processes, procedures need to change, top level management need to be accountable for failures. That includes the Health Minister!
What patients need is treatment, not hashtags, slogans, or spin. We need a clear recovery plan for the NHS with proper accountability and a long-term strategy to train and retain our healthcare workforce.
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The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Doctors of my generation support this strike – you don't need a medical degree to see why
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Times
an hour ago
- Times
Doctors' strikes live: thousands start five-day walkout over pay
The leader of the British Medical Association previously claimed that Britain was becoming a fascist state where dissidents were labelled 'traitors and enemies of the people'. Dr Tom Dolphin, 46, chairman of the union behind the latest round of strikes, has made controversial comments including likening Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of a healthcare boss, to Jesus, and criticising Brexit. Dolphin, a former Labour Party activist, was elected to the post in June after developing a reputation as a hardliner over his two decades in the BMA. • Read in full: The leaders behind the 29 per cent pay demands Doctors already earn a 'good wage', Peter Kyle, the science, innovation and technology minister, has told Times Radio as the BMA strike action begins today. He said: 'I can't speak for the leadership of the British Medical Association sadly, but I do urge them to put the patient's interests at heart but also the interests of our entire country. 'People do not support this strike. A 28.9 per cent offer, which was agreed last year, is an astonishing achievement for those doctors. They should bank it, they should get to work … we need to fix the NHS and get it fit for the future.' Sir Keir Starmer made a last-minute appeal to resident doctors, saying the strikes would 'cause real damage'. 'The route the BMA resident doctors' committee have chosen will mean everyone loses. My appeal to resident doctors is this: do not follow the BMA leadership down this damaging road. Our NHS and your patients need you,' he wrote in The Times. • Read in full: Junior doctors should break ranks with the BMA leadership Thousands of resident doctors have begun a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, with picket lines at Guy's Hospital in London, Royal Victoria Hospital in Newcastle, Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and Leeds General Infirmary. Members of the public have been urged to come forward for NHS care during the walkout, and are being asked to attend appointments unless told they are cancelled. GP surgeries will open as usual and urgent care and A&E will continue to be available, alongside NHS 111, NHS England said.
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2 hours ago
- Press and Journal
Euan McColm: Is there any hope for future of Woolmanhill Hospital?
The ongoing dereliction of Woolmanhill Hospital is grim to witness. From the outside, the building maintains its majesty but – as online film clips have shown – its interiors are crumbling. Like a metaphor for the city of Aberdeen, itself, the Woolmanhill maintains a brave face during difficult times but, behind that facade, all is not well. When the NHS moved out of the building – home to the original Aberdeen Royal Infirmary – a decade ago, there were exciting plans for its redevelopment. The A-listed building – which has been in the hands of CAF Properties since the NHS moved out – was going to become a 102-bedroom luxury resort but those proposals were ditched in 2021. Since then, according to the city council, the building's owners have been looking for new ways of bringing the building back to life. Delay in finding new purpose for Woolmanhill site The future of the Woolmanhill Hospital site has had several false dawns. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson. Fighting the instinct to be unreasonable, I can understand the reasons behind the delay. First – and nobody living in Aberdeen needs to be reminded of this – the city has changed dramatically over the past decade. As recently as 2014, Aberdeen was to be considered the jewel in the Scottish crown. During the independence referendum, then SNP leader Alex Salmond promised that North Sea oil would create a strong foundation for economic good times. A Yes vote would mean a glorious future. Now, the oil and gas industry is treated as an embarrassment by the Scottish Government, as something to be run down and forgotten. The second perfectly acceptable explanation for the delay in developing the site is the disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Life may have returned to normality since the vaccination roll out four years ago but the financial hangover of months of lockdowns lingers. Development can't be 'wished into existence' Across Scotland's cities are examples of architecture so grand, so downright spectacular, that nobody (unless they were, say, a member of the Saudi royal family) could fund their construction today. To build something comparable – in terms of materials and sheer craftsmanship – to the Woolmanhill hospital, today, would be prohibitively expensive. This being so, it's doubly sad to see the place slowly fall apart. Windows are smashed and boarded up on the derelict property. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson. Of course, reality doesn't care about the desire to see the building brought to life. If there is no viable project, then one cannot simply be wished into existence. But nor should the building remain abandoned and unloved, left to decay. If developers cannot find a solution then the government should step in. There have been calls for the place to be turned into a medical museum which certainly makes a certain kind sense. Where better to display the marvels of medicine, to tell the stories of pioneers in the field, than a grand hospital building. But, realistically, would such a museum prove to be such a smash that it justified the spending of tens of millions in its development? I have my doubts. Perhaps the answer to the question of what to do with Woolmanhill is rather less glamorous and exciting than a swanky resort. Perhaps it – and other empty buildings – hold part of the solution to our ongoing housing crisis. Is there a creative partnership to be struck between public and private sectors to bring Woolmanhill back to life? Could housing be the answer for derelict Woolmanhill Hospital? With young people priced out of the housing market in the city and across Aberdeenshire, pressure on existing housing association stock is reaching intolerable levels. Could the city council, the Scottish Government, and the developers work together to redevelop the site, turning it into flats and townhouses, ensuring a proportion fall into the category of 'affordable' and are made available to first-time buyers? Given the drop in footfall across Scotland's cities, it's difficult to see how a place the size of Woolmanhill could easily be converted into a commercial venue. What would it contain? Shops and concessions that nobody will use? Pop-up restaurants that don't last a week and bring little to the local economy? People, however, will always need somewhere to live… Graffiti adorns the outside of Woolmanhill Hospital. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson. Last week, a spokeswoman for Aberdeen City Council said that talks with CAF, headed up by property tycoon Charlie Ferrari, were 'ongoing' However, both the local authority and Mr Ferrari remain tight-lipped as to what these talks actually involve. Time truly is of the essence, here. With each passing month, the unused building falls further into disrepair. The longer the delay in taking action, the less viable redevelopment of the building will become. There is no simple answer to the question of what to do with Woolmanhill but unless one is found, and quickly, the building will end up past saving.
