Friday 8 January 2016

Tories to keep "Border of Death"!

For a Party that used the state if the  Welsh NHS as a battering-ram against Labour in last May's General Election news that the the Welsh Conservatives have ruled out NHS reorganisation and hospital closures if they win power following May’s Assembly election looks rather odd

Remember Prime Minister David Cameron launched a blistering assault on the record of Welsh Labour in public services  in April saying Offa’s Dyke had become “the line between life and death”.

Darren Millar, shadow minister of health for the Welsh Conservatives, said: 

“Labour have been running the NHS in Wales since 1997, but they are running it into the ground.
“In contrast to their legacy of cuts, closures and downgrades, we are making a commitment today to secure, re-open and widen access to NHS services in Wales.
 The Conservatives also vowed to re-establish paediatric and special care baby services at Withybush hospital in Pembrokeshire.
The Party  also include maintaining all existing emergency departments and re-opening minor injury units (MIUs) in Newtown, Tenby, Colwyn Bay and in the Rhyl/Prestatyn area.
They say £12m would be directed towards the re-opening of minor injury units, while £20m would form a community hospital development fund.

Is it just me or are all the the places mentioned in seats that the Tories  will be seeking to win in this years Welsh assembly Elections.

Naturally  the other Parties were not impressed

Welsh Labour health minister Mark Drakeford said: 

“The Tories are condemning communities across Wales to unsafe and substandard services which ignore best medical advice and the gold standards which NHS services throughout the UK are striving to meet.

"The Tories are telling people in Tenby, Rhyl, Newtown and Colwyn Bay that they are only worth second or third best with this plan.
“By seeking to reopen minor injury units which only saw a handful of patients every week, the Tories are not just wasting money but they are threatening the very viability of the emergency departments they claim to want to protect”.

Elin Jones, Plaid’s health spokeswoman, said:

“To say that there should be no change in the Welsh NHS is the greatest naivety yet from the Welsh Tories.”
She added: “If they think all that needs to change is that MIUs in only four community hospitals need to be re-opened, then they obviously have no desire to tackle the lengthy waiting times for diagnosis and treatment in Wales.”
 Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams said there were elements of Tory health policy, such as calls for elected health commissioners the Conservatives would “rather you forgot”.


This Blog has in the past criticised all the Welsh Parties (including Plaid) for making rash promises  on the Welsh NHS but for a Party who only last year  were talking of a "Border of Death  re-opening  small number of minor injury units in marginal constituencies seems far from ambitious. 

Has Tory leader in Wales Andrew R. T. Davies been Told by his London Bosses not to differ far from the  plans in England of the Secretary of State there one Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well Glyn I tend to think that England will be lucky to have an NHS if the Tories remain in power there for any length of time, and that includes the Labour Party who went a long way to destroy much of it. This means regardless of what any other party says or does and that includes the SNP here, none of us will be able to maintain it should that happen, not without Independence. Well we tried very hard to warn all those here who voted NO but sometimes things have to happen to make the stupid learn. I do not have a clue what you can do about the Welsh NHS, ours is doing well all things considering, I know I am using it presently having had a bad fall and dislocating my shoulder I have had first class service since it happened.

Anonymous said...

These are proposals for the seats the Tories would like to win Health Service not for a National Health Service. How can they say the NHS is safe in their hands? They have nothing to say to the vast majority who the live in the rest of Wales.