Social Care News

New Health Minister admits 'massive challenge' to improve Welsh NHS

WALES’ new Health Minister has spoken of the “massive challenge” ahead of her as she pledged to target poor ambulance response times and flagging waiting lists.

Lesley Griffiths, the first North Wales AM to hold the health portfolio, said she would listen to and act on the concerns of frontline NHS staff.

Speaking during her first ministerial visit to the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, where she toured the emergency department, Ms Griffiths said her immediate priority would be to deliver Labour’s key manifesto commitments.

These include extending GP opening hours in the evenings and on Saturday mornings and introducing free health MoTs for the over 50s.

She said: “My priorities have to be those that were set out before the people of Wales – better access to GPs at weekends and in the evenings and introducing health checks.

“We have a shrinking budget from Westminster so we will have to look at priorities and where we can save money but we are not going to go the way of the UK Government – we don’t want to see privatisation.

“I also want to look at ambulance response times, which is something I’ve picked up from my own advice surgeries and I need to look at waiting times. We have met these targets but I don’t want to see them slip.

“Priorities have to include taking forward things like an organ donation bill and in terms of access to GPs, I need to look at the GP contract to make sure we can negotiate these issues.”

Asked why she will not reconsider Labour’s flagship free prescriptions policy to save money – a manifesto pledge put forward by the Welsh Conservatives – she said: “People really value free prescriptions. It keeps people in work and we know that worklessness leads to poor health.”

Ms Griffiths is Wales’ fourth health minister, taking over from previous incumbent Edwina Hart, who has been appointed Business Minister in the new Labour administration.

Like previous health ministers, she has been quick to say she will listen to frontline staff, saying: “By going out and meeting frontline staff I can pick up things that can be taken forward.

“I have a lot of friends in the NHS – they are so dedicated and committed. You rarely find anyone who hasn’t gone into it without that commitment and I don’t just mean doctors and nurses.”

Ms Griffiths, a former medical secretary who worked in the NHS for 20 years, assumes political control of the NHS at a time when it is facing an “unprecedented” financial situation – 10 years of growth in the health budget are now over.

The NHS faces three years of a real-terms reduction in its budget at the same time as demand for its services is increasing as a result of an ageing population blighted by long-term chronic ill health and by rising patient expectations.

Orthopaedic waiting times are continuing to breach the Government’s 26-week target in South Wales, although Mrs Hart had previously pledged extra money to reduce waiting times.

Ms Griffiths will be responsible for delivering the Government’s long-term vision of a world-class health service, which treats more patients closer to home.

Her tenure as Health Minister will also coincide with a series of tough decisions about what services the NHS provides – and where.

A series of controversial clinical reviews questioning the future of emergency and consultant-led services at hospitals in North Wales has already been opposed by patients and health professionals. Those reviews are expected to recommence following the elections.

Other health boards are likely to follow suit as they look for ways to save money while still providing core services.

Ms Griffiths, AM for Wrexham, said: “Some people have said you will never win and I suppose it’s true you can never have enough money.

“The NHS is something that people in Wales hold dear to their hearts – all of us use the NHS; all of us will have an experience and something to say about it but I think we have an NHS that we should be immensely proud of.

“It is a massive challenge but I’m hugely privileged and this is something I am looking forward to.

“As the First Minister said, it’s about delivering and I know I have to deliver.

“We have to make sure the policies going forward are the right ones. We will be judged very much on what happens this term, which is why we have to get it right.”

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/05/18/new-wales-health-minister-s-massive-challenge-91466-28713262/#ixzz1MhTbTSVd