North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has spoken of his own experience as a patient at a North Wales hospital and called on the Welsh Government to engage with front line NHS staff at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to ensure that much needed changes are made.
Responding to the Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: “Update on Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board”, Mr Isherwood praised the “brilliant” staff who dealt with him when he was a patient at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, but outlined issues he witnessed and was told about by staff during his stay.
He consequently urged the Welsh Government to address problems in the troubled Health Board by engaging with those on the front line.
Speaking in the Senedd Chamber, he said:
“I spent New Year's Eve in Accident and Emergency, Wrexham Maelor, as a patient. I must start by saying that, when I arrived and from the moment I arrived, the staff were all brilliant.
“I sat down in the packed waiting room, the screen on the wall said half an hour to triage, then two and a half hours to treatment. I did get my triage after half an hour, and was told, 'Ignore the screen on the wall, it's at least eight hours to treatment'. I was eventually admitted to the ‘Majors Ward’ and spent the night on a trolley there. I had to ask for a blanket at 3 o'clock in the morning. I was probably the youngest person on the ward that night. I mentioned to a Cardiologist that it must be particularly bad because it was the New Year, and he said, 'No, this is not exceptional'.
“I also attended the 20th February briefing for Members of the Senedd by the campaigning organisation EveryDoctor, which included powerful testimony by a Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Emergency Medicine Consultant, with important facts and contextual information, and their explanation of what needs to change to safeguard lives and support NHS staff.
“She explained how even she had to personally search the hospital for trolleys, when she should be treating patients, at times when ambulances were queueing up outside Accident and Emergency.
“So, behind your assurances, when will you finally start engaging with front line NHS staff such as those we heard from and I referred to, to establish what really needs to change and how to deliver this?”
Speaking afterward the meeting, Mr Isherwood said:
“In his response, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said he is already engaging with front line NHS staff in North Wales. If this is the case, then it is even more concerning that healthcare professionals are still highlighting the improvements desperately needed in Betsi Cadwaldr University Health Board to us!”