Wales NHS News

Two leading charities, Contact a Family Wales and the MS Society Cymru have given a joint response into the Health and Social Care Committee's report into wheelchair services in Wales. The committee also held a one day inquiry in March.

The committee's one day inquiry and report has provided a useful review of progress so far on wheelchair services in Wales. Contact a Family Wales welcomes the considerable improvements to paediatric services which reflects the positive impact of targeted funding and the hard work of professionals on the ground.

For this momentum to be maintained, however, it will be essential that the Committee's recommendations on the need to improve strategic planning and communication are addressed at the earliest opportunity.

Although there have been improvements, waiting times for adult wheelchair users in North Wales mean some people have had to wait up to a year for assessment which the Multiple Sclerosis Society Cymru has branded as unacceptable.

We welcome the short inquiry into wheelchair waiting lists in Wales and think that the investigations undertaken by the Health and Social Care Committee have shone a light onto the wheelchair service and led to improvements. Prior to the inquiry there had been little communication with service users and the voluntary sector, so we would accept that this has improved.

However, MS Society Cymru remains concerned at the length of waiting lists in North Wales and that additional funding is still needed to get these down. Fifty two weeks for a wheelchair is unacceptable.

The committee's report confirms that there has been improvements in wheelchair services since a previous inquiry two years ago but better communication and strategic planning is needed.

• Politics
• Wheelchairs
• NHS

The Welsh Government say that new figures showing a fall of almost 23 per cent in emergency readmissions for chronic diseases reinforce the need for reorganisation of health care.

NHS Wales' Chief Executive David Sissling says in his annual report that “these reductions illustrate the improved treatment of once-fatal diseases through better care, often in community settings and because of that, less reliance on hospitals for the treatment of these conditions."

The new figures are released as health boards across the country prepare to consult on plans to reorganise services by providing more care in the community.

David Sissling said the report "shows the NHS is making progress in shifting the balance of care from hospital to community settings, and that the current hospital configuration, which exists from a time when these diseases were less treatable, can be changed to reflect these improved outcomes."

• Health
• Welsh Government
• NHS

The Auditor General for Wales says the current NHS in its current form is 'unsustainable'

Huw Vaughan-Thomas says the way the system is run at the moment is 'simply unaffordable' and changes need to be made. Health Correspondent, Mariclare Carey-Jones, has been following the story.

• Health
• NHS

There's a serious warning that current health services in Wales are unaffordable even if there are major cuts.

The Wales Audit Office says the NHS here must make radical changes if it's to survive but is warning there may not be enough money for those radical changes.

• Health
• NHS

Kirsty Williams is again calling on the Welsh Government to establish a Welsh NHS locum bank. She says its important to reduce the need of locums from expensive private agencies and make it easier for the health service to fill temporary gaps in provision

We've been telling the Welsh Government month after month that they are wasting money in our NHS on areas where we could be saving money. Budgets are tight in the NHS at the moment and that is why it is crucially important that the Welsh pound goes a long way to support vital services and the care that patients receive.

The NHS in Wales is spending a lot of money on expensive private companies who supply it with medical staff. In Scotland, they managed to reduce by two thirds their spending on hiring nurse locums

In Scotland , NHS nursing banks have been set up to provide an internal pool of staff who can be called on to cover absences with a saving of some twenty million pounds over five years according to figures quoted by the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

• Politics
• Kirsty Williams
• NHS

Stephanie Wilkins has worked as a bio medical scientist for the NHS for over twenty years.

She claims she has been forced to join fellow NHS workers, and others from across the public sector, on the picket line in sending a message to the UK Government.

Like all those taking part in this 24 hour strike Stephanie says she doesn't want to pay more to work longer and get less.

The changes will mean that she will be £30 a month or £1,400 a year worse off.

• UK
• NHS
• public sector

Kirsty Williams AM, the Liberal Democrats leader in Wales, is accusing the Welsh government of not standing by its promise in 2006 that everyone who wanted to register with an NHS dentist would be able to do so.

She says a lot of people either can't register or are having to travel long distances.

• Health
• NHS
• Wales

• Health
• NHS
• Wales