Deliberate under-reporting of A&E waits in labour-run Welsh NHS
Commenting on the news that the true picture of A&E waiting times in Labour-run Wales has been seriously and deliberately under-reported for a decade due to so-called ‘breach exemptions’, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister, Russell George MS said:
“I would like to commend the Royal College of Emergency Medicine for uncovering this deliberate under-reporting of A&E waits in our Labour-run health service. The Labour Government had been wrongly touting their figures as better than England’s.
“Waiting times in Labour-run Wales are already exceedingly high across the board, for A&E with these new figures included, our overall waits are the worst in Britain.
“Now that the true and full picture in our Welsh emergency departments has been revealed, the Labour Government need to end their complacency and get to grips with these excessive A&E waits.”
This year alone (January to June 2023), 45,000 patients are believed to have been excluded from the Welsh A&E wait figures.
Wales is the only nation in the UK to discount so-called ‘breach exemptions’ from the A&E figures in this way, according to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
Breach exemptions may occur when:
• Patients who are clinically unstable need more input from the emergency team.
• Test results are needed before they can be admitted or discharged.
• Patients need plaster-casts on broken bones.
• Input is needed by occupational therapy or physiotherapy.
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