I called for Welsh Labour to work cross-border with England on healthcare provision to try and deal with the failings of the NHS in Wales.
I led a parliamentary debate this week on cross border co-operation of health services. Health is a devolved matter, I told MPs, but it makes up a third of her postbag because it is working so badly in Wales.
I explained patients, families and even members of staff were deeply concerned about Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board—(BCUHB) and the effect that its failings were having on the people of north Wales. Waiting lists were much higher in Wales than England, MPs heard.
BCUHB is currently in Welsh Government special measures for not the first but the second time. Despite that, its performance seems to be getting worse, not better. It has been called “dysfunctional”, “chaotic” and a “basket case”.
That is why my colleagues and I want the UK Government to help find a solution and why we desperately need the following: much better co-operation across borders on our health services; data that allows the direct comparison of performance across all health boards in the UK, a recognition that the UK Government has a moral, and arguably a legal, duty to take action where the wellbeing of their citizens is compromised and a willingness to act on that duty where necessary.
I explained that a former health secretary has reached out to the Welsh Labour government to offer a right of access to NHS services in England for people in Wales.
Unfortunately, the Welsh health minister claims not to have the additional budget to facilitate that proposal, despite the clear benefits it could offer our constituents.
The Welsh Government can, however, find an estimated £100 million to increase the number of Senedd Members from 60 to 96, £4.25 million to buy a farm that it now cannot develop and over £30 million to implement the much-derided default 20 mph speed limit.
Despite health in Wales not being our gig, it makes up a third of my postbag, and my colleagues and I cannot turn our backs on our constituents.
We cannot ignore their problems and blame Wales, because these are life and death situations. We desperately need the UK Government to step in and up the ante on cross-border co-operation. We desperately need the UK Government to take this matter in hand and do something now to protect the wellbeing of British citizens.
In reply health minister Andrew Stephenson said: “A genuine offer was made to the devolved administrations, which remains open. We continue our commitment to working closer with the devolved administrations on elective recovery and access to primary care, on top of the existing cross-border arrangements to allow patients who live in Scotland and Wales to access care in England under certain circumstances, which is paid for by the relevant administration."
“That is important because when adjusted for data differences, the Welsh waiting list of 677,000 represents 21.6 patient pathways per 100 population compared with 13.3 per 100 in England."
He added: “I pay tribute to my honourable friend for the work that she has done to improve health services in Wales and promote the importance of cross-border health co-operation across the entire United Kingdom. She raises the concerns of her constituents with me and other health ministers week in, week out. Her constituents could wish for no better representative than her.”
