This week, I’m taking part in a Welsh Parliament debate about the Welsh NHS.
Health services are absolutely essential to people across Wrexham, Flintshire and the rest of North Wales. From primary care to GP services, from accident and emergency to cancer treatment, you should be able to rely on a quality health service when you need it.
Unfortunately, this isn’t happening in far too many cases. There are many hardworking people at the coalface in the health service who are doing their best, but are too often let down by those at the top.
The statistics are pretty shocking. In Wales, where the NHS is run by the Welsh Government in Cardiff Bay, two year waits for treatment have increased to 21,290 and the number of ‘patient pathways’ has reached 775,031, the highest on record.
Imagine being on a waiting list for two years, perhaps in severe pain and in desperate need of surgery. That is a traumatic experience and is unacceptable – for it to be more than 20,000 in a country the size of Wales is frankly shameful.
The Welsh health service has been run separately from other parts of the United Kingdom since 1999, when devolution began.
Labour have run the Welsh Government for all that time, and things seem to be worse than ever.
54.2% of red ambulance calls don’t arrive within eight minutes, and median waits for NHS treatment are 22 weeks in Wales, compared with 13.9 weeks in England. Those numbers impact real people, day in and day out.
We really need better management of the Welsh NHS. We also need to do things like getting rid of outdated technologies – can you believe there are still fax machines being used in some areas?
We also desperately need a proper workforce plan. That includes an emphasis on training and retaining quality healthcare professionals.
Last week in the Senedd, I held the Cabinet Secretary to account for cutting the number of health training positions, and then not even being able to fill the reduced number of places that were on offer!
This simply isn’t good enough for people in our area. You deserve better, and that is what I am working to help achieve.
As ever, if you have any queries or issues you’d like to raise with me, then you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].
Fy marn i - The Leader
Yr wythnos hon, rwy'n cymryd rhan mewn dadl yn y Senedd am y GIG yng Nghymru.
Mae gwasanaethau iechyd yn gwbl hanfodol i bobl ledled Wrecsam, Sir y Fflint a gweddill y Gogledd. O ofal sylfaenol i wasanaethau meddygon teulu, o ddamweiniau ac achosion brys i driniaeth canser, dylech allu dibynnu ar wasanaeth iechyd o safon pan fydd ei angen arnoch chi.
Yn anffodus, dyw hyn ddim yn digwydd mewn llawer gormod o achosion. Mae yna lawer o bobl sy'n gweithio'n galed yn y gwasanaeth iechyd sy'n gwneud eu gorau, ond sy'n cael eu siomi'n rhy aml gan y rhai ar y brig.
Mae'r ystadegau'n eithaf brawychus. Yng Nghymru, lle mae'r GIG yn cael ei redeg gan Lywodraeth Cymru ym Mae Caerdydd, mae 21,290 yn aros am ddwy flynedd am driniaeth erbyn hyn ac mae nifer y 'llwybrau cleifion' wedi cyrraedd 775,031, yr uchaf erioed.
Dychmygwch fod ar restr aros am ddwy flynedd, efallai mewn poen difrifol ac mewn angen dybryd am lawdriniaeth. Mae hynny'n brofiad trawmatig ac yn annerbyniol – mae’r ffaith ei fod dros 20,000 mewn gwlad o faint Cymru yn gywilyddus.
Mae gwasanaeth iechyd Cymru wedi cael ei redeg ar wahân i rannau eraill o'r Deyrnas Unedig ers 1999, pan ddechreuodd datganoli.
Mae Llafur wedi rhedeg Llywodraeth Cymru gydol y cyfnod hwnnw, ac mae'n ymddangos bod pethau'n waeth nag erioed.
Dyw 54.2% o alwadau ambiwlans coch ddim yn cyrraedd o fewn wyth munud, ac mae cyfartaledd yr amser mae pobl yn aros am driniaeth y GIG yn 22 wythnos yng Nghymru, o'i gymharu â 13.9 wythnos yn Lloegr. Mae'r ffigurau hynny'n effeithio ar bobl go iawn, bob dydd.
Mae angen rheoli GIG Cymru’n well. Mae angen i ni wneud pethau fel cael gwared ar dechnolegau hen ffasiwn hefyd – allwch chi gredu bod peiriannau ffacs yn dal i gael eu defnyddio mewn rhai ardaloedd?
Mae dirfawr angen cynllun gweithlu priodol arnom hefyd. Mae hynny'n cynnwys pwyslais ar hyfforddi a chadw gweithwyr gofal iechyd proffesiynol o safon.
Yr wythnos diwethaf yn y Senedd, cefais y cyfle i ddwyn Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet i gyfrif am dorri nifer y swyddi hyfforddiant iechyd, ac yna methu â llenwi'r nifer llai o leoedd a oedd ar gael!
Yn syml, dyw hyn ddim yn ddigon da i bobl yn ein hardal. Rydych chi'n haeddu gwell, a dyna beth rydw i'n gweithio i helpu i'w gyflawni.
Fel erioed, os oes gennych chi unrhyw ymholiadau neu broblemau yr hoffech chi eu codi gyda mi, yna gallwch gysylltu drwy e-bostio [email protected].
