Plaid Cymru politicians have expressed concern as latest NHS waiting figures released this week shows that health service in Carmarthenshire remains under immense pressure.
Across Wales, those waiting for hospital treatment have reached a record level, with figures published showing a 24th successive month of rising waiting lists. The figures for April 2022 show more than 707,000 patients were waiting for hospital treatment, with over quarter of a million (258,189) waiting longer than 36 weeks.
Across the Hywel Dda University Health Board, a total of 87,277 people were on waiting lists – an increase of almost on figures for February 2022. The number of patients within the Hywel Dda Health Board area waiting longer than 36 weeks for treatment had increased slightly since the start of the year – now 31,364 compared to 31,207 in January.
Responding to the figures, Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for Mid & West Wales said:
“These latest waiting list figures are clearly a cause of great concern and show that the NHS in Carmarthenshire remains under great pressure. It’s increasingly easy for us to become desensitized by figures and forget that each one of these numbers represents an individual often facing significant pain or discomfort day-to-day.
It’s vital that the Welsh Labour Government step up their efforts to support those needing medical attention and provide our hard-working NHS staff with greater support and resources.”
Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for health and care, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS added:
“These latest figures show that NHS Wales remains in gridlock – and this has a knock-on effect throughout the whole health and care system. When demand exceeds capacity, it impacts everything from the speed that GPs can get referrals on to secondary care, to patient flow through from hospitals to social care settings.
“Clearly, we need to see action taken now to increase capacity and to improve patient flow so we can deal with the current situation, a crisis that existed pre-COVID. But we have got to make things sustainable for the long term, and that has to include a dramatic change in attitudes – and Government funding – towards preventative health measures.
“When it comes to decreasing pressure on our health and care service, Wales needs a prevention revolution.”
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