(Title Image: Wales Online)
Welsh accident and emergency departments saw some of the longest waiting times for treatment in several years, matching a relatively poor performance in September 2019.
In October 2019, only 73.5% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within the four hour Welsh Government target and more than 5,000 patients waited more than 12 hours.
A&E performances across the UK declined over the same period, with Wales placed third in the nations of the UK. Ambulance response times have also measurably declined, but were just above the eight-minute response time performance target.
NHS Wales Chief Executive, Dr Andrew Goodall, told BBC Wales: “The impact of older people and their needs and their admissions over recent years….that is something that has built up over the last few years, and you do see that enhancing particularly through the winter months, where there’ll be a high level of older people coming through the system.”
Plaid Cymru’s health spokesperson, Helen Mary Jones AM (Plaid, Mid & West Wales) said: “We’re barely into the worst of the winter months and already our NHS is struggling to cope. Our frontline NHS staff do the best they can under increasingly difficult circumstances and shocking mismanagement from Labour.”
