(Title Image: Wales Online)
This week’s short debate came from Caroline Jones MS (Ind, South Wales West) on the subject of NHS waiting times.
Pandemic will result in indirect deaths caused by treatment delays
Listing issues in ambulance response times, A&E waiting times and a lack of hospital bed space during January 2020, Caroline Jones said the picture before the Covid-19 pandemic wasn’t great but suddenly became a whole lot worse.
Since the pandemic and lockdowns started, it’s been estimated up to 3,000 people could have undiagnosed cancers and an estimated 2,000 people will die of otherwise preventable causes because of pandemic-related delays to treatment in the NHS.
“Overall, during the first lockdown, around 62,000 fewer patients were operated on in Wales, compared with the same period the previous year – 62,000 people left in pain and suffering with no end in sight. And people haven’t stopped getting sick. Heart disease, dementia and cancer just haven’t gone away. Covid-19 isn’t Wales’s biggest killer. In fact, it’s, ironically, the nineteenth most common cause of death in Wales. So, this pandemic will result in a lot of indirect deaths because our health service is not running at the capacity it should. “
– Caroline Jones MS
Non-emergency treatment had to start now to prevent becoming an emergency in the future, with Caroline Jones suggesting the pandemic field hospitals should be expanded and dedicated solely to Covid-19 patients.
Appeal for patience as waiting times “will take years” to recover to pre-pandemic norms
Health Minister, Vaughan Gething (Lab, Cardiff S. & Penarth), accepted that the number of people waiting 36 weeks or longer to begin treatment was three times higher in March 2020 than it was a year earlier, which undid progress reducing long waiting times over the previous five years.
Some in-patient and day treatment activity had more than halved during 2020. There were similar figures for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
With the Welsh Government set to restart the publication of national waiting times later this month, the Minister warned that any backlogs could take years to clear.
“It is important that we as a Government, and the public, realise the size of the challenge….The NHS will support the public through education and tools on how to play a greater part in their own care and self-management. But there is no quick fix. It will take years for each UK country to get waiting times back to where they were….We are fully aware of the effect that this is having on individuals who are waiting even longer for their treatment. My officials are working with clinicians across our NHS to understand what more support could be provided to patients while they wait.”
– Health Minister, Vaughan Gething
