The new Chairman and Chief Executive of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board face the immediate challenge of turning round the board’s "deteriorating" waiting list figures, says the Liberal Democrats’ North Wales Assembly Member, Aled Roberts.
“After a period of improvement since March 2013,” says Aled Roberts, “there has been a marked decline month on month since March 2014.
"In April this year within the Betsi Cadwaladr Board area the percentage of patients waiting less than 36 weeks was the lowest of any Welsh Health Board.
"That means more and more people each month are having to wait more than 36 weeks for treatment – that is over 9 months. It is a totally unacceptable time for anybody to have to wait for treatment.
“The figures for those waiting less than 26 weeks are not much better. At the end of May this figure was 84.8%, 1.6 percentage points lower than at the end of April 2014.
"Again this means there are an increasing number of people waiting more than 26 weeks – 6.5 months. Not as long as 9 months but still an unacceptable period for anybody to wait for medical treatment.
“The new Betsi Cadwaladr Chief Executive, Professor Trevor Purt, took up his post last month. Along with the new Chairman, Dr Peter Higson, they need to take immediate action to reverse the increasing number of people who having to wait for long periods before getting medical treatment.”
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