First Minister slammed by North Wales MPs over patients issue

Jun 25 2008 by Martin Williams, Rhyl Visitor

IN an angry exchange in Westminster last week, First Minister Rhodri Morgan was lambasted by North Wales MPs when he refused to give a guarantee brain surgery patients wouldn’t have to travel to Cardiff or Swansea for treatment.

And MPs are demanding health minister Edwina Hart appears before them to answer questions on her proposal for an all-Wales service which could mean patients will no longer be able to receive treatment at the Walton Centre, Liverpool.

Clwyd West MP, David Jones, said: “It’s absolutely bonkers to think elective neurosurgery for North Wales patients should be provided anywhere other than Walton, and the situation where the future of the service is in doubt is causing immense worry to patients.”

Rhodri Morgan was given a rough ride when he attended the Welsh Affairs Committee in the House of Commons last Thursday where he refused to rule out a ban on patients travelling to centres outside Wales for non-emergency treatment.

“We have taken a hell of a battering for saying people would have operations further from home while having diagnostics and rehab done closer to home, but you can’t compromise on excellence,” he said.

And he said an independent review into neurosurgery provision was near to conclusion.

“In advance of that I’m not going to make any definitive statements,” he stressed.

But Mr Jones said MPs felt they were fobbed off.

“Edwina Hart should have been there to answer our questions as she is the minister responsible for this proposal, but so far she has found reasons for not attending the committee, although we are continuing to press strongly for her to do so,” he said.

“If she had been there I would have questioned her closely about a potential conflict of interest. Before the Assembly election, there was a recommendation in a report from Health Commission Wales for either the Cardiff or Swansea neurosurgery unit to shut.

“As the AM for Gower, which borders Swansea, she campaigned heavily during the election for the Swansea unit to stay open, and one of the first things she did when she was subsequently appointed minister for health was to tear up the Health Commission Wales report and come out with the proposal North Wales patients should travel to the south.

“I believe this shows potential for a conflict of interest and feel this is a very important issue.

“Rhodri Morgan told us the Assembly had taken a battering on this and so they should as people are fed-up with what they see as a South Wales bias in Assembly decision-making,” he said.