David Chadwick has strongly condemned proposals that would extend waiting times for patients in Powys receiving treatment in English hospitals, under Powys Teaching Health Board.
The issue was raised by Mr Chadwick with Dame Nia Griffith, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales, during a Welsh Affairs Select Committee session focused on the Wales Office.
Video from parliamentlive.tv
The issue was raised by Mr Chadwick with Dame Nia Griffith, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales, during a Welsh Affairs Select Committee session focused on the Wales Office.
Video from parliamentlive.tv
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NewsTranscript
00:00In September, the Welsh Secretary announced plans for Welsh patients to receive treatment
00:11across England in an effort to drive down waiting lists in Wales, which are now the
00:15highest on record. Those plans were seemingly then walked back by Welsh Government Ministers.
00:22Now in Paris, the health board has been forced into a position by the Welsh Government where
00:27it could force Welsh patients to wait longer than English patients when being treated at
00:31the same hospital. This is in direct contradiction to what the Department has previously outlined.
00:37So will this Government allow Welsh patients to receive treatment in England to drive down
00:42waiting lists or not? And if so, when can we expect to see any movement on this issue?
00:48Well, I think, David, look, the point is that we want to work very closely with Welsh Government
00:54and initially it is very much about looking at best practice on both sides of the border
00:59and what are the lessons that we can learn. But in practical terms on the ground, he will know
01:03that there are already agreements in existence whereby, because of the geography of a place,
01:10it's more appropriate for patients to go to one side or the other side to AGP and where
01:15there are specialist provisions that, again, cross-border working has been common. As he
01:23quite rightly points out, there is absolutely the case for exploring this further and for ensuring
01:28that there are no discrepancies, as he describes, between what can be accessed on one side of the
01:36border and the other side of the border by patients who are attending the same GP surgery.