Private Hospitals Used to Cut Heart Surgery Waiting Lists

Is it Possible for our NHS Wales to provide our growing population with safe Healthcare ?

Having dared to look the £2.4m ‘gift horse’ in the mouth yesterday, I couldn’t let another day pass without commenting on the First Minister’s Annual Report to the Assembly.  This reminded me of a public address given by Iosef Stalin in which he said “People are the problem, therefore no people no problem”.  Carwyn James' whole time at his lectern brought to mind the emptying of a garbage truck onto a public tip.  It was like we poor Welsh people were left sifting through the waste material looking for something edible or – to me – Credible. Needless to say his brazen declaration that all surveys proved that we Welsh were happy with the many improvements to public services, all supposedly reporting over 90% satisfaction with our public services, especially health. Of course, if the people surveyed were especially selected they’d agree to anything, so without knowing who they were, you could make-up any result, which is precisely what Carwyn did.

His entire demeanour was one of a school bully who dared anyone to disagree with him or even to question any of his nonsensicle claims that should have been subject to more vociferous scrutiny from the opposition parties. His report on our health services was mostly fiction, as usual and, once again he questioned the integrity of a great MP, Ann Clwydd, dismissing her evidence as unsubstantiated with no names given to the author of each complaint.  I found this particularly objectionable as ANY complaint about patient mistreatment made to the Universally Inept Health Board always receives the stock reply, “We cannot comment on individual cases.” So Carwyn – the dishonest Walrus – wants the penny and the bun but, alas, he has not sufficient intelligence to realise the stupidity of his words. In short, the First Minister is nothing more than psychopathic thug.

Yesterday’s Echo carried the article that revealed the political motivation behind the fact that some private hospitals are being used to “cut cardiac surgery waiting lists”. The pathetic explanations for the waiting lists were inedible enough to make a Billy-Goat puke.  The facts and figures are unsupported and insubstantial and – as usual – gang-member Drakeford repeated his  drone, “The improvements have come as a result of implementation of innovative practices by NHS organisation”  ( what improvements, what organisations and where is the evidence ? ).  He ended with his maniacal rant that “pushing through the current structural and organisational changes was his highest priority”, thereby publicly declaring that he knows nothing of the operation of the NHS nor how this could possibly be improved by all of the government’s cost-saving measures.

Week in Week out last evening gave Ann Clwydd the opportunity to speak on behalf of the thousands of complainants of NHS services.  The most staggering figure I noted was the fact that the NHS has actually closed 2700 beds over the past decade, whereas I have been only saying that ‘over a thousand had been cut to save money. 2700 ! less beds leaves no wondering about why waiting lists are so long for hospital consultations or for elective surgery.  With less beds ( including ITU ), fewer rural services that have been rationalised or centralised, plus the fact that there will only be four A&E units where patients can now be admitted to hospital. [ The NHS will say five A&E units, but they are counting one at Cwmbran hospital that isn’t even off the drawing board yet ]

So First Minister, how have you got the bare-faced cheek to lie to the Assembly members, as well as the general public , about the improvements to the health service ?  Also, what can we do to eliminate this unaccountable, incompetent government, short of staging a massive riot? The best we can hope for is a coalition government where Labour do not have overall power.

With regard to the waiting lists, they will only increase – along with mortality rates – because many are still waiting for a diagnosis. More will die in transit to distant hospitals, with  deaths of patients awaiting cardiac surgery increasing in ever greater numbers.

Therefore Mr First Minister, realise the huge crisis in our Health Service and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT !!              R.  W.

£2.4 m Pledged to Reduce Cardiac Surgery Waiting Times

Investment pledged after doctor’s group finds ‘substantial work to do’

Once again, our First Minister has committed several Terminalogical  inexactitudes about the so-called improvements that have been made in Wales with many public services. It is a shame that Sir Winston could not have enjoyed a titter or two by listening to Carwyn Jones’ Annual Report.

Certainly, in my area of expertise – NHS Wales - , and in my capacity as a patient advocate, I am not obliged to follow the niceties of Parliamentary protocol.  With regard to the groundless claims of improvements in NHS Wales ( and the spurious figures quoted ) I can safely suggest that he fits the adage “There are Lies, Damn lies, and Statistics”.  We mustn’t forget that his Health Minister, Puffessor Prudence Drakeford ( of Prudent Healthcare fame ) has an excellent knowledge of the last word in the adage, but is a bumbling amateur with the first two parts. Still if he keeps on trying for a few more years, he may succeed in reporting some accurate figures to his Lord and Master that will enable that strutting bully-boy to sound as if he gives a damn.

Whereas this article purports to report ‘Good News’, it fails miserably because of the usual absence of any meaningful information.  Examples are timescales for rates of reductions in waiting lists, who is going to achieve these improvements, and when will we be able to be told  ( honestly ) how these many reductions in the cardiac surgical waiting list have been achieved using the £2.4m if, and when, it actually becomes available ? Of course, If our incompetent and uncaring Ministers can’t answer these important questions, perhaps Mr Adam Cairns may care to provide this data, without the usual accompanying B.S.  It is an unfortunate fact that, if the actual reductions are only equal to the daily additions to the waiting list, sending patients to hospitals far and wide will be an exercise in futility – not forgetting the waste of £2.4 m is what appears to be a bad attempt at believable Public Relations. And - a year after the damning report by the Royal College of Surgeons - why did it take so long for the Health Board to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT???      R.  W.