Letter: Powys NHS patients ‘treated as second‑class’

It has become apparent that from a health point of view, Powys has become the poor relation of Wales, and probably the UK too.

A friend of mine has just been referred to an orthopaedic consultant with an arthritic ankle. She does need an operation, but he was very sympathetic when he gave her the waiting times: six months if she lived in England, but 12 months because she lives in Powys.

This is now becoming the normal experience.

Your article says this is due to inadequate Welsh Government funding.

What makes this worse is that the Senedd has recently created another 36 MSs, with big salaries, coupled with the fact that the Senedd building has had to be extended, at a cost of a few million pounds, to accommodate them.

I feel such an important and expensive change should have been put to all the Welsh people at a referendum, not voted on by a few MSs, as we shall be bearing some of the cost.

It is amazing how quickly parliamentarians can move when it is in their interests, isn’t it?

As there is obviously a shortfall, our recently qualified midwives and nurses, after years of training, have no jobs to go to, as they were promised.

We could certainly use these, far more than a few MSs.

I gather bank nurses sometimes have to be employed to cover staff who are sick or on holiday, or when extra are needed, and these don’t come cheap.

There are many kind, competent and hard-working staff working for their NHS, and their jobs are not being made easier at the moment.

Many of us feel that the care sector of health should be made part of the NHS, run in conjuctioned with the hospitals, rather than being employed by private companies which are expensive.

This would take a lot of organisation, but would go a long way to preventing so much bed-blocking by people who could be looked after at home, freeing up more hospital beds.

Ambulance drivers should not be having to wait for hours outside hospitals with very sick people inside. This is terrible. The above, if instigated, would help a great deals, and save money for hospital beds too, as well as reducing stress for casualty staff.

Which brings me to a final point. If we lose our air ambulance from Welshpool, there is no way that critically ill patients would make it to our far-flung general hospitals in the Golden House.

Don’t forget too that the main road to the coast goes through mid Wales, and tourists, too, have bad traffic accidents.

Our farmers have accidents from time to time.

It must be hell travelling in a road ambulance if very ill, on our appalling roads, and believe me some of our main roads are disintegrating too now.

We really should keep our lifeline air ambulance, even if we have no hope of our own general hospital.

My credentials for writing this letter are that I worked for the NHS for 48 years as a dentist, with a special interest in treating minor trauma, also doing many domiciliaries when patients couldn’t get to us any more, both in their homes and in hospitals.

And yes, we did follow the hygiene protocols!.

Dr Madeleine Thornton

Aberhafesp