Simon Thomas: The record will show, of course, that Plaid Cymru invested heavily in local health services, including those in Bronglais and throughout mid and west Wales, which is where I shall centre my contribution. There was investment in the Prince Philip Hospital, in Bronglais and in our district general hospitals. That shows the reality of Plaid Cymru in Government, rather than the posturing of the Conservatives, who are actually cutting the Welsh budget.
However, what we are focusing on today is accountability—
Darren Millar: You refer to our cutting the Welsh budget; do you accept that your posturing about independence for Wales would see a massive axe taken to the cash available for public services in the future?
Simon Thomas: Surprisingly enough, Darren, no, I do not. [“Laughter.”] What independence would bring to us, no doubt, is more accountability and, hopefully a Minister who would stand up for her responsibilities. I have to say that I find it deeply strange that the Labour Party is prepared to see £5 billion of public money spent without their Ministers, as elected politicians, deciding how it is spent. They are washing their hands of the Labour Party’s greatest achievement—because there is no doubt that the national health service is Labour’s greatest single achievement in Government. I do not quibble with that, and I do not quibble with Aneurin Bevan’s role in that. However, I do quibble with a Labour Party that is now prepared to let unelected appointees from outside Wales decide what happens to the NHS in Wales, without taking the responsibility for the spending of that money. Aneurin Bevan famously said that he would get the NHS if he had to stuff the consultants’ mouths with gold; that is what is happening in Hywel Dda Local Health Board at the moment, with the private consultants who are coming in to give advice without local people having a say. The LHB paid £1,000 a day for Sir Jonathan Ashbridge, who is actually employed by Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust, to tell us in Hywel Dda, without any consultation with local people, how to run community care. The result was 20 medical beds cut overnight in Llanelli Hospital. That is what happens when you pay consultants of that kind £1,000 a day and stuff their mouths with gold.
What do the LHB’s spokespeople say about this? None of them are named. You cannot get hold of any of them. None of them, as Elin Jones pointed out, are really prepared to engage with local representatives. Very few of them actually live in the Hywel Dda area, knowing that their older people will be subject to the issues in that area later in their lives.
We are told that this is scaremongering. Back in September 2010 the then Minister for health said that this was pure scaremongering.
'It is pure scaremongering—I can absolutely say on the record that the service is safe—there will be no changes to the A&E unit in Llanelli’.
That is what she said. A year down the line, everyone here knows that there have been changes to the accident and emergency unit in Llanelli. There have also been changes to the minor injuries units in Tenby, Pwllheli and Pembroke Dock. We are told that those are temporary, but we are not told when that will come to an end. The Minister may recall that I wrote to her and pointed out the problems with ambulance services in the area. I asked how she could expect people to attend Withybush or Glangwili when their local minor injuries unit had been closed because of a problem with ambulance services. She wrote back saying that there was no problem with ambulance services; none whatsoever. So, Nia Griffiths MP is wrong when she talks about
'some very worrying examples of long waits for an ambulance’.
She is wrong when she says, just today in the “Llanelli Star”, that there is a knock-on effect in the time that people have to wait before an ambulance gets to them. The Minister says one thing, Labour MPs say another, and Labour AMs say another, and vote another way. Locally, people say something different again.
Keith Davies “rose”—
Simon Thomas: Keith, I welcome the opportunity for you to clarify your position on this.
Keith Davies: I just want to quote Helen Mary Jones on 20 April:
'We’re not talking about freezing the services and keeping everything exactly the same. We know that some specialist services will need to be provided in one place and some in others’.
That is your party’s position.
Simon Thomas: That refers to the breast cancer facilities that have come into Llanelli and been strengthened. That is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with specialist services being strengthened, but you are in charge now, and your Minister has to take responsibility for £5 billion. There is an accountability gap—there is no doubt that the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats was right to point that out. We do not necessarily need to go back to smaller areas, but we do need to look at what is happening in Scotland, where locally accountable politicians are going on to their health boards in order to ensure better accountability. The sum of £5 billion of public money demands a damn sight more scrutiny and accountability, from the Minister right down to the local health board.
Friday 20 January 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
