Minister says ‘no evidence’ to support claims of longer NHS waits in Wales than England

By David Lynch, Reporter8th February 2024News WalesAccident and Emergency, Government / Politics, Hospitals, News Wales, NHS

A Welsh minister has contested claims that waiting lists for the NHS in Wales are worse than in England.

Eluned Morgan, Minister for Health and Social Services in Wales’ Labour-run devolved government, suggested there was “no evidence” to support claims that A&E waiting times in Wales are worse than in England.

It came after Conservative former Welsh secretary Alun Cairns said at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday that patients in Wales “sadly have to wait longer to see a doctor, longer for an ambulance, longer at A&E and longer for an operation than patients in England”.

He claimed that Aneurin Bevan, the Labour former health minister who oversaw the foundation of the NHS, would be “turning in his grave” at how his party has run the health service in Wales.

But responding to the claims, Baroness Morgan (pictured) said: “In the last 12 months overall waiting lists in Wales have only increased by 1.4% compared to 5.9% in England, and we count more pathways in our lists than England.

“Comparisons can’t be made between ambulance response time performance in Wales and England as we have different categories of incidents and different targets, and there is no evidence to support the claims made on A&E.

“We have invested in new ways for people to access emergency and urgent care services – so they don’t have to go to an emergency department. These include 16 new primary care centres, which are treating 12,000 people a month, and our new national 111 service, which is providing advice to more than 75,000 people each month, including around 525 people who need urgent mental healthcare.

“Wales has more GPs per head of the population than England and we have already reformed the GP contract to eliminate the 8am bottleneck.”

In his question to the Prime Minister, Vale of Glamorgan MP Mr Cairns said: “There are 24,785 patients in Wales waiting longer than two years for an operation. That number in England is 227. Does the Prime Minister agree that Aneurin Bevan will be turning in his grave on the fact that you can’t trust Labour with the NHS?”

Rishi Sunak replied: “He is absolutely right. Whereas here in England we have a plan… and we have virtually eliminated those waiting the longest amount of time but in Labour-run Wales, as he said, … waiting lists over 18 months are more than 10 times higher than here in England.”

The Prime Minister added: “It is crystal clear we should stick to our plan for a brighter future and not go back to square one with Labour.”