Level playing fields
No word from the Department of Health yet.
But let's leave our calculators in the drawer and be as blunt as we can:
By the end of the year the whole journey of an English patient from GP referral to actual treatment should last no more than 18 weeks.
The whole journey of a Scottish patient from GP referral to treatment should last no more than 36 weeks.
The whole journey of a Welsh patient from GP referral to treatment should last no more than 44 weeks.
Targets are just that. Finding a playing field that spans Offa's Dyke and is still level is pretty impossible.
But those are the targets and they're clear enough.
This is more complex but at the end of December 2007, 3,055 patients in the whole of England were waiting over 22 weeks for admission as an in-patient or day cases. At the same time, there were 6,375 patients in Wales, waiting over 22 weeks for admission as in-patient or day cases.
I'll leave you to work your way through the rest.
So what do we conclude? That waiting times in Wales are 'much' longer as things stand, that things are gradually getting better, that Ben Bradshaw should probably not have said what he did - but that he was right?
In the meantime, a word from Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, in the days when the Deputy FM's job was just a twinkle in his eyes:
" Welsh patients he [Rhodri Morgan] says will not wait more than 6 months by 2009, whereas in England the waits will be 18 weeks by 2008. Welsh patients have been and continue to be treated as second class citizens by the Labour Assembly Government ... Why should patients in Wales have to wait longer?"
I'm Betsan Powys, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on .
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Thanks you Betsan. Now we know the truth. 18 weeks waiting in England compared to 44 weeks in Wales.
No wonder the our future leader Carwyn Jones doesn't like "unhelpful comparisons with administrations outside Wales".
An earlier blogger was proud of the fact that our Ms Hart our Health Minister is a "real socialist". Looks like this is true. Excessive queuing was quite popular behind the iron curtain too I seem to recall.
People are dying to get off the waiting lists in Wales...
There's a simple enough answer - if you're mobile then just insist that your GP refers you to a facility in England. I boycotted the hospital services in Gwynedd/North Wales a few years ago, after a series of ridiculously long waits and third-rate outcomes, and since then I have never had to wait more than about 5 weeks for anything. Outpatient jobs usually take about 2 weeks to arrange and I usually get a choice of day and a choice of morning or afternoon appointment...
It is way past time that this bunch of recycled failed Labour politicians, incompetent advisors, and professional obfuscators in Cardiff Bay were put out to grass. Public services in Wales have been going downhill ever since these self-serving clowns took over 11 years ago - just about everybody I talk to can see this but it's only by going outside this failed system into England, or beyond, that you really see just how bad the situation here in Wales has become...
Oh they're socialists alright - leveling down is all they know!
Ben Bradshaw was right - he simply told it like it is!
Memory Lane..."Mr (Rhodri) Morgan, 67, was admitted to hospital on SUNDAY night apparently suffering from "gastric problems"...On TUESDAY, Mr Morgan's wife Julie, the Cardiff North MP, said Mr Morgan had told her he felt "terrific" following the (heart) operation."
Hey, it works for some!
For once in my life I agree with John Walker - what Ben Bradshaw said was spot on, the NHS in Wales provides an inferior service compared to England.
Betsan,
I had no idea you had such close friends in the Health Service Journal! They have done the work for you this week having published the HSJ Intelligence Supplement. Conclusion on the Bradshaw attack:
'England's waiting times no better than Wales'
'Despite much larger investment ....average waits have fallen at a similar pace to Wales'
'Did England really need to spend so much to develop plurality of providers.....'
Common Betsan there's a real story ere - get after it......