Welsh First Minister accused of giving patients ‘false hope’ with NHS plan

The Welsh First Minster has been accused of giving patients “false hope” on plans for more cross-border cooperation on health.

Plans for a new partnership intended to address the challenges facing the NHS in England and Wales were revealed at the Labour Party conference last month.

The aim is to help drive down waiting lists on both sides of the border, with Welsh NHS waits at their highest level on record.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru,  accused the First Minister of giving patients “false hope” with the plans at First Minister’s Questions on Tuesday.

But Eluned Morgan said her opponents had misrepresented the policy, saying people had been “putting words into our mouth in terms of what the relationship is and what it was that we announced”.

Mr ap Iorwerth said: “The problem is that we have absolutely no idea what is actually being proposed.

“Despite her promise of mutual aid partnerships between NHS trusts in England and health boards in Wales, the Welsh Government’s cabinet secretary for health has ruled out giving Welsh patients the option to travel to England for more treatments.

“Between them, Labour in Wales and in Westminster have come up with a word soup which is just a distraction from their failure and even lack of a real plan to bring down waiting lists.”

He accused the FM of making up the policy “as she goes along”.

Mr ap Iorwerth also said Plaid had submitted Freedom of Information requests to Powys Teaching Health Board, NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB, who all confirmed there had been no correspondence from the Welsh or UK governments on the partnership.

When the scheme was revealed, Labour said there would be “opportunities to explore more cross-border collaboration”, including developing mutual aid partnerships, which would enable NHS Trusts to support each other as capacity becomes available.

Jeremy Miles, the Welsh health minister, said travelling across the border for health care “actually isn’t what was announced by the First Minister,” in an interview with the BBC on Sunday.

Speaking at FMQs, Baroness Morgan said: “I honestly think that you have all, as well as the media, been projecting things on to what this relationship is all about.

“The fact is that it is all about practical, common-sense steps, and that’s what we’re doing.

“We’ve brought in these experts, who are telling us what works well in the NHS in England, and they’ll be working with the experts from Wales.

“Let’s be clear, supporting each other is something that already happens.”

She said people from Bristol already travel to Wales, including for treatment for cleft palates, as well as plastic surgery.

She added: “When we look at capacity, frankly there’s not that much capacity in England either at the moment.”

Baroness Morgan said there were a range of areas where the NHS in England was keen to learn from Wales, pointing to GPs, which she said have “much better performance than they do in England”.