Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, calls for more to be done to tackle excessive waiting times in A&E departments.
Speaking in the Senedd, Mr Rowlands, Shadow Minister for Health spoke of patient’s excessive waiting times to be seen in A&E.
He said:
Just last week, a member of the public, who, sadly, has terminal cancer, wrote to me to express his experiences at a North Wales hospital, where they attended A&E with a letter from his GP to secure a bed on a ward to counter an ailment.
But the hospital refused this and put him in the A&E waiting room, where they waited for 11 hours. By midnight, they were told they were better to go home. So, they came back in the next day and had a very similar experience, with people waiting more than 12 hours.
Sadly, this isn't a one-off occasion, and there are far too many people having these experiences in our A&E waiting rooms.
Mr Rowlands asked Health Minister, Eluned Morgan ‘for the sake of our doctors and nurses, who are having to work through this, and certainly for the patients, who are having to experience these conditions, could you outline what plan you have to tackle these excessive A&E waits’.
The Minister said new initiatives were being introduced to tackle the problems and she had spoken to BCUHB about some of the really difficult issues they were facing in particular areas.
Mr Rowlands added:
I do question whether the Minister has her priorities right as on the same day we had four hours allocated for us to debate putting 36 more politicians in this Chamber at the cost of tens of millions of pounds, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board issued an urgent warning regarding the emergency unit at University Hospital Wales—the largest hospital in Wales.
I appreciate that there are challenges, in terms of discharges from hospital and I'm certainly willing to work with the Minister her to see what approaches can be put together to see that improve.
Because we all want to see a better A&E system here in Wales and those waiting lists and waiting times reduced.
Sam Rowlands AS yn bryderus am amseroedd aros ysbytai yn y Gogledd
Mae Sam Rowlands, Aelod o’r Senedd dros Ogledd Cymru, yn galw am i fwy gael ei wneud i fynd i'r afael ag amseroedd aros hir mewn adrannau damweiniau ac achosion brys.
Wrth siarad yn y Senedd, siaradodd Mr Rowlands, Gweinidog Iechyd yr Wrthblaid am amseroedd aros hir cleifion mewn adrannau damweiniau ac achosion brys.
Meddai:
Yr wythnos diwethaf, ysgrifennodd aelod o'r cyhoedd, sydd, yn anffodus, â chanser angheuol, ataf i fynegi ei brofiadau mewn ysbyty yng Ngogledd Cymru, lle aeth i adran ddamweiniau ac achosion brys gyda llythyr gan ei feddyg teulu i sicrhau gwely ar ward i geisio gwella o anhwylder.
Ond fe wrthododd yr ysbyty hyn a'i roi yn ystafell aros yr uned damweiniau ac achosion brys, lle bu’n aros am 11 awr. Erbyn hanner nos, dywedwyd wrtho y byddai’n well iddo fynd adref. Felly, fe ddaeth yn ôl drannoeth a chael profiad tebyg iawn, gyda phobl yn aros mwy na 12 awr.
Yn anffodus, nid yw hwn yn ddigwyddiad unigryw, ac mae gormod o lawer o bobl yn cael y profiadau hyn yn ystafelloedd aros ein hadrannau damweiniau ac achosion brys.
Gofynnodd Mr Rowlands i'r Gweinidog Iechyd, Eluned Morgan, amlinellu pa gynllun sydd ganddi i fynd i'r afael â'r amseroedd aros hirfaith mewn adrannau damweiniau ac achosion brys, er budd ein meddygon a'n nyrsys, sy'n gorfod gweithio drwy hyn, ac yn sicr i'r cleifion, sy'n gorfod profi'r amodau hyn.
Dywedodd y Gweinidog fod mentrau newydd yn cael eu cyflwyno i fynd i'r afael â'r problemau a'i bod wedi siarad â BIPBC am rai o'r materion anodd iawn hyn yr oedden nhw'n eu hwynebu mewn meysydd penodol.
Ychwanegodd Mr Rowlands:
Rwy'n cwestiynu a yw blaenoriaethau’r Gweinidog yn y drefn gywir oherwydd ar yr un diwrnod y neilltuwyd pedair awr i drafod rhoi 36 yn fwy o wleidyddion yn y Siambr hon am gost o ddegau o filiynau o bunnoedd, cyhoeddodd Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Caerdydd a'r Fro rybudd brys ynghylch yr uned frys yn Ysbyty Athrofaol Cymru—yr ysbyty mwyaf yng Nghymru.
Rwy'n gwerthfawrogi bod heriau, o ran rhyddhau o'r ysbyty ac rwy'n sicr yn barod i weithio gyda'r Gweinidog i weld pa ddulliau y gellir eu llunio i weld hynny'n gwella.
Rydyn ni i gyd eisiau gweld system damweiniau ac achosion brys yn gwella yma yng Nghymru a'r rhestrau aros a'r amseroedd aros hynny yn lleihau.
