NDM7489 - Opposition Debate
Tabled on 18/11/2020 | For debate on 25/11/2020To propose that the Senedd:
1. Notes the BBC Wales Investigates report that showed a ten-fold increase in patients waiting for all treatments in the Welsh NHS compared to September 2019.
2. Further notes the warning from leading cancer experts and charities that 2,000 people could die because of COVID-related delays in the Welsh NHS.
3. Recognises the hard work, dedication and commitment of staff in the healthcare sector supporting patients not just with coronavirus but with a variety of conditions.
4. Regrets that the Minister for Health and Social Services has estimated that it would take a full parliamentary term to resume normal services and that it would be foolish to have a plan in place to tackle the waiting list backlog.
5. Calls on the Welsh Government to:
a) immediately boost the use of COVID-free hospitals, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine;
b) conduct an urgent review into how hospital patients in Wales are being discharged during the pandemic and implement those findings to tackle bottlenecks in hospitals, as recommended by the Royal College of Physicians;
c) significantly improve its testing regime to ramp up capacity and ensure that COVID-19 is isolated and kept out of Welsh hospitals;
d) introduce a cancer recovery plan, as seen elsewhere across the UK, and increase investment in the roll-out of rapid diagnostic centres across Wales; and
e) implement a nationwide campaign to ensure that people who suspect they have cancer, or need to go to hospital in an emergency, continue to do so.
Tabled By
Amendments
Add as new sub-points at end of point 5:
'conduct a review of performance against waiting time targets over the past decade to ensure that lessons are learned about management of waiting lists;
consider using the Nightingale hospitals where possible to provide extra capacity for patients recovering from surgery to help increase flow through the system.'
Tabled By
Delete point 1 and replace with:
Notes that the Welsh statistics published on 19 November show an 11 per cent increase in the total numbers waiting for treatment from September 2019 to September 2020, and it is the growth of waits over the national target 36 weeks that have increased ninefold, a trend which has been seen in all areas of the UK.
Tabled By
Delete point 4 and replace with:
Regrets that Wales, the UK, and the world will be living with the effects of COVID-19 for many years.
Notes that whilst COVID remains in our community, NHS plans are focussed on balancing the safe delivery of COVID and non-COVID services.
Tabled By
Delete sub-point 5(a) and replace with:
Work with local clinicians to develop models of delivery which maximise all resources to deliver safe, quality care for both COVID and non-COVID pathways to local communities.
Tabled By
Delete sub-point 5(d) and replace with:
Continue to work with the cancer network and NHS to ensure cancer services are able to meet new and current demand, and agree how to deploy future investment to deliver on the agreed commitment for rapid diagnostic testing.
Tabled By
In sub-point 5(e), delete “implement a” and replace with “continue our”.