Welsh Labour’s healthcare failings forcing patients into debt
Labour’s failure to manage NHS waiting times is forcing people into debt, say the Welsh Conservatives following a report by the BBC.
The harrowing article depicts the story of a Mrs Williams, a learning support assistant in a school, who was forced to pay over £4,000 on private healthcare following her endometriosis diagnosis.
Figures released this week show that the number of people waiting over two years is now 65,053 – up from 9,775 a year ago – compared to 8,028 in the whole of England. Also, 1-in-4 Welsh patients wait over a year for treatment, but only 1-in-20 do so in England.
Figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) show that people paying for private hip, knee and cataract surgery is up by 148% since 2019.
Commenting on the story, Welsh Conservatives Shadow Minister for Health, Russell George MS said:
“This is the real human cost of Labour’s complete failure to manage the NHS waiting times – people being forced to choose between risking their life or going into debt to pay for healthcare.
“While this is incredibly distressing, it is not surprising considering Labours record with 1 in 5 people in Wales waiting on an NHS waiting list and 65,000 people waiting over two years.
“It is beyond belief that Labour can even think about spending £100 million on more politicians in Cardiff Bay while people in Wales are having to go into debt to pay for urgent healthcare. Labour simply needs to do better.
“Labour need to get a grip on the NHS, stop putting lives at risk and breaking all the wrong records.”
