Who is this woman? It’s the Welsh Health Secretary, Baroness Eluned Morgan. She was banned from driving for six months in March 2022, after being caught speeding.
She wasn’t driving an ambulance at the time.
From BBC Wales today::
A&E wait: Frustration over disabled man’s 48-hour ordeal
A care agency boss has described the NHS as “a joke” after a disabled man was forced to wait for 48 hours in A&E.
One of David Williams’ clients, who has severe epilepsy, had been taken to the Grange Hospital near Cwmbran, Torfaen, complaining of chest pain.
Mr Williams said he had to wait in a chair with no food for 36 hours.
Aneurin Bevan health board said delayed hospital discharges and winter viruses had led to longer waits at A&E.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64038636
That’s the beginning of a 1145 word report which does not mention Baroness Morgan nor, for that matter any other politician, government or opposition.
Who gets the blame then?
The Welsh government said: “We were sorry to learn about the patients’ experiences and we are supporting the health board and partners in providing better outcomes for patients who need access to urgent and emergency care.”
Yes, but is the Welsh Government to blame?
Mr Williams, the care home owner?
“A&E is carnage, they’re rushed off their feet,” he said. “I don’t think it was any fault of the hospital, I think it’s a fault with the system.”
Ah, the ‘system’. Is it that in Scotland too, BBC Scotland?
On 21 December 2022, BBC Scotland has this:
No ambulance to meet helicopter patient at hospital
A patient was airlifted to Glasgow Airport as no ambulances were available for a 300 yard transfer from the helipad at an East Ayrshire hospital.
The individual, who was picked up by an air ambulance on Arran, was then driven 26 miles from the airport back to Crosshouse Hospital, near Kilmarnock.
Both the Scottish Ambulance Service and Scottish government have apologised for the delay.
A Tory MSP said the patient’s experience was “truly terrifying”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64052318
I wonder who that Tory MSP might be. Will there be space for more of them in only 796 words?
‘Total chaos’
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the story was a damning indictment of the current state of the health service.
He added: “This will have been a truly terrifying situation for this patient and my thoughts are with them.
“It lays bare the total chaos that Humza Yousaf is presiding over in our NHS, despite the best efforts of dedicated ambulance crews.
“Going back and forth between different health boards, having already been in an air ambulance, will have caused huge distress and anxiety for this suffering patient.”
Dr Gulhane also called for the patient to be given an “urgent apology” after a chain of events he described as “utterly shameful”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64052318
For once, it’s just ‘Dr’ Gulhane. Labour and Lib Dems will be complaining of pro-SNP bias again.
I don’t suppose they had room for a picture of anyone. Well, this one:
Unlike Baroness Morgan, Humza can still drive.
Dr Gulhane didn’t blame the system at any time.
Talking-up Scotland 
There is a place in Hell ( or the House of Horrors ? ) waiting for political vampires such as Gulhane and that Baillie creature .
They are deserving of the utmost contempt !
They constantly belittle the Scottish NHS by their comments attacking the Health Minister .
Do they understand the untold damage they do to workers’ self-respect when they , day after day , show their contempt for the outstanding work of our Hospitals and Care workers by attacking the system in which they work ?
Do they actually believe that removing one man from his post will magically resolve problems in the Health sector caused by 12 years of deliberate underfunding and sabotage by the Tories ?
And where is THEIR magic bullet solution to the ills of the system they maliciously undermine ?
Come on Baillie and Gulhane – let’s see your well thought-out plan of action .
What’s that ? ‘Sack Humza Yousaf !”
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The halfwit doesn’t have a solution, neither does Bailley and we haven’t seen a properly costed solution to anything from either Labour or Tory in Scotland for over a decade because their bosses at westminster won’t let them.
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The comparative analysis here on TuS of NHS performance across the nations of the UK continues to be relevant and important, even if repetitive. Coverage by TuS helps make up for the mainstream news media’s recurring deficits in the provision of context and perspective. TuS also makes a contribution – and this is really motivating! – to ensuring that the Baillie & Gulhane scalp hunters get called out each and every time they demand the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Humza Yousaf resigns or is sacked whilst ignoring what’s happening in England and Wales where Tory and Labour health secretaries respectively are responsible for the NHS.
The Labour/Tory (concerted?) campaign to bring down Mr Yousaf was reignited earlier this week after the shortest of lulls over Christmas. The attack lines were amplified by the Daily Record (27 December, 2022) – ‘Humza Yousaf facing calls to resign after 42,000 Scots forced to spent over 12 hours in A&E’. The focus of the ‘Yousaf-out’ coalition this time round was the number of NHS Scotland patients spending over 12 hours in A&E before discharge, admission of transfer.
Of course, no one – least of all in the Scottish Government – is claiming that the long waits in A&E are desirable or acceptable. So what is it that justifies the sustained Labour/Tory demands for the Health Secretary in Scotland to go? After all, I can find no comparable demand for a health minister to resign/be sacked anywhere else in the UK. Is NHS Scotland exceptionally and uniquely ‘bad’?
Here is what the Daily Record told its readers based on statistics ‘compiled by Scottish Labour’: the number of NHS Scotland patients spending more than 12 hours in A&E in the period January to October 2022 was 42,100.
The Record also pointed to Labour’s evidence of a deteriorating performance regarding 12 hour waits over time. And it provided some ‘notable’ quotes from Jackie Baillie MSP: ‘The facts are plain for all to see – Scotland’s A&E services have been plunged into a deadly freefall by Humza Yousaf’s dangerous negligence” adding “patients spending a shocking 12 hours waiting in A&E has soared this year – dwarfing previous years and putting lives at risk.” Her choice of statistics and her choice of language are worth bearing in mind as you gain perspective as you read on!
According to data from Statistics Wales, across NHS Wales between January and October 2022, 101,725 patients had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E. Recall that ‘dangerous negligence’ is Labour’s chosen characterisation for having 42,100 patients waiting over 12 hours in Scotland!
(Source https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Health-and-Social-Care/NHS-Hospital-Waiting-Times/emergency-department/performanceagainst12hourwaitingtimestarget-by-hospital )
From the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s (RCEM) website: ‘The latest Emergency Department performance figures for October 2022 published by the Welsh government show: …. The Emergency Care system is in crisis. The reported data show nearly half of all patients waiting more than four-hours to be seen, one in four patients waiting eight hours or more, and nearly one in six patients waiting 12-hours or more.
‘However, this is not the full picture. There are many more patients who wait for over 12-hours that are masked by clinical and operational exclusions, classified as breach exemptions. We have written to the Health Minister, Eluned Morgan MS, to ask that these real patients, facing exceptionally long waits, are included in the data. It is vital that the Welsh government are transparent about the number of patients facing these harmful long waits for the sake of patient safety, and so we can begin tackling the root of the issues facing the system.’
The issue of 12 hour waits in A&E is not a recent problem in Wales. In a press statement by the RCEM dated 23 June 2022: ‘RCEM Wales: Worst May on record in Emergency Care cannot be met with inaction’ we learn:
’… 10,147 patients spent more than 12 hours in a major A&E department, almost double the number of 12-hour waits compared to May 2021.’
‘Responding to these figures, Dr Suresh Pillai, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Wales, said: “These figures are appalling, demoralising and distressing. Worst ever four-hour performance for the month of May. High levels of bed occupancy. Double the number of patients waiting over 12 hours this time last year. It is appalling for the health service, it’s demoralising for exhausted staff who are giving their all, and it’s distressing for patients. THIS IS WHAT COLLAPSING SERVICE LOOKS LIKE.” (my emphasis)
And the problem goes back even further. From a press statement by the RCEM dated 21 October 2021: ‘Emergency Department performance figures published today by the Welsh Government for September 2021 show four-hour performance has deteriorated for the sixth consecutive month, while 12-hour performance has deteriorated for the fifth consecutive month and eight-hour performance has reached the lowest on record.’
‘Nearly 8,500 patients stayed in a major Emergency Department for more than 12 hours before being admitted, transferred, or discharged – equal to one in eight patients. 12-hour stays rose by 6%, or 500 patients, compared to the previous month, August 2021.’
At that time, Dr Suresh Pillai, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Wales, said: “As the figures show we have had consistent deterioration in performance over the past five or six months. The situation is unsustainable. Emergency Departments continue to be under severe strain, and we know these pressures are not limited to Emergency Departments but are increasing across the whole system.
“Long-stays have also risen once again with one in eight patients staying in a major Emergency Department for 12-hours or more while nearly a quarter of all attendances are staying for eight hours or more. Long-stays are linked to patient harm and threaten patient safety. Staff are doing all they can to minimise this risk and deliver care as quickly and effectively as possible.’
And finally, from a press statement by the RCEM as far back as 21 February 2019: ‘The January 2019 NHS activity & performance figures released today are confirmation of the significant issues confronting NHS Wales – The number of patients waiting 12 hours or more has gone up by 35.7% within a month. January 2019 had the second highest number of 12-hour waits on record.’
Eluned Morgan was appointed Minister for Health and Social Services in the Labour government in Wales on 13 May 2021.
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