Ambulance waiting times ‘chaos’ in Wales has been highlighted at the Senedd, with a Pembrokeshire politician citing an example of local-based ambulances recently having to leave Tenby to attend a matter in Swansea, leaving the locality without adequate cover.
Senedd Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Samuel Kurtz raised the concerns with the First Minister, as to what action the Welsh Government is taking to reduce ambulance waiting times.
“Just recently a Pembrokeshire-based emergency medical technician wrote to me expressing his frustration that Pembrokeshire-based ambulances often leave the Hywel Dda health board area - called to Waunarlwydd from Tenby, then to another emergency 60 miles away, he eventually ended up delayed, unable to offload patients outside of Morriston Hospital,” stated Mr Kurtz.
“This left Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire without adequate ambulance cover, and is sadly a common occurrence.
“Since 2015 amber response times have gone from 11 minutes to over 113 minutes - a damning indictment of the Labour Government's failure and its mishandling of the health services here in Wales.
“So, will you just admit it - the Welsh Labour Government haven't got a clue how to improve health services in Wales?” added the Conservative member.
First Minister, Eluned Morgan, responded that it was important to recognise, that the issue also reflected a ‘massive increase’ in demand from the public in the Hywel Dda region.
“October saw the joint second-highest number of red calls on record ever. So, let me just be clear that also what's really significant is that, despite that massive increase, they reported the best ambulance performance in Wales for response to red calls within eight minutes in October,” she stated.
©SeneddTV
Senedd Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Samuel Kurtz raised the concerns with the First Minister, as to what action the Welsh Government is taking to reduce ambulance waiting times.
“Just recently a Pembrokeshire-based emergency medical technician wrote to me expressing his frustration that Pembrokeshire-based ambulances often leave the Hywel Dda health board area - called to Waunarlwydd from Tenby, then to another emergency 60 miles away, he eventually ended up delayed, unable to offload patients outside of Morriston Hospital,” stated Mr Kurtz.
“This left Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire without adequate ambulance cover, and is sadly a common occurrence.
“Since 2015 amber response times have gone from 11 minutes to over 113 minutes - a damning indictment of the Labour Government's failure and its mishandling of the health services here in Wales.
“So, will you just admit it - the Welsh Labour Government haven't got a clue how to improve health services in Wales?” added the Conservative member.
First Minister, Eluned Morgan, responded that it was important to recognise, that the issue also reflected a ‘massive increase’ in demand from the public in the Hywel Dda region.
“October saw the joint second-highest number of red calls on record ever. So, let me just be clear that also what's really significant is that, despite that massive increase, they reported the best ambulance performance in Wales for response to red calls within eight minutes in October,” she stated.
©SeneddTV
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NewsTranscript
00:00to reduce ambulance waiting times in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire.
00:05We are taking action to manage the urgent care needs of people in the community and
00:09to improve discharge planning work.
00:13This will free up emergency ambulance capacity.
00:17In recent weeks, we have launched the 50-day challenge.
00:20We have launched new guidance on ambulance patient handover.
00:25We have recruited 26 clinicians to provide remote advice from 999 contact centres.
00:33Just recently, a Pembrokeshire-based emergency medical technician wrote to me expressing
00:38his frustration that Pembrokeshire-based ambulances often leave the Huwel Dda health board area.
00:45Called to Wynard Lwyd from Temby, then to another emergency 60 miles away, he eventually
00:50ended up delayed, unable to offload patients outside of Morriston Hospital.
00:55This left Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire without adequate ambulance cover and is sadly
01:00a common occurrence.
01:01Since 2015, AMBA response times have gone from 11 minutes to over 113 minutes, a damning
01:09indictment of the Labour Government's failure and its mishandling of the health services
01:14here in Wales.
01:15Now, because you can't meet your targets, you're looking to move the goalposts and change
01:19the targets in the new year.
01:21So, will you just admit it, Prif Weinidog, the Welsh Labour Government haven't got a
01:24clue as to how to improve health services in Wales?
01:27Carwyn Jones AM Well, I just think it's really important
01:32to recognise, once again, that this is also about increased demand from the public.
01:37A massive increase in demand just in the Huwel Dda region.
01:41October saw the joint second-highest number of red calls on record ever.
01:47So, let me just be clear that also what's really significant is that, despite that massive
01:56increase, they reported the best ambulance performance in Wales for response to red calls
02:01within eight minutes in October.
02:04So, you're quite right, we have to make sure that all parts of this system work, but actually
02:11that focus, that increase and that increase in performance in relation to the red calls,
02:17which of course is the most critical one to respond to, has improved.
02:23When it comes to reforming the way we look at this, this, of course, was a recommendation
02:28from the Health Committee to review how it was done, something that has been done quite
02:33a long time ago in England.
02:36We've kept to this for a long time.
02:39We are following the recommendations of the committee.
02:42There does need to be a recognition of that huge increase in demand and making sure we
02:46respond to the most urgent patients.
02:50Julie Morgan AM How does the Welsh Government support people
02:56in the youth justice system?