Today (12th December) in the Senedd, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have pressured the First Minister Mark Drakeford over the state of primary care in Wales.
A recent briefing from the Welsh Ambulance Service revealed that In the previous three months leading up to October:
· 29,537 patients were left with no ambulance response.
· At least 46 cases involving death have been directly linked to delays in ambulance arrival times.
· 17,830 patients were waiting over an hour outside of emergency departments with 1,606 estimated to be coming to severe harm.
Due to the crisis in ambulance waiting times, GPs have been forced to attend emergency cases despite a lack of training and equipment.
The party are now calling on the Welsh Government to take measures to prevent the offloading of emergency cases onto GPs.
Commenting, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:
“Last week in a briefing from the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust, we learnt the true extent of the crisis unfolding in our emergency care system.
The situation facing us now is dire, and it will continue to worsen as the colder months draw in.
It has in fact got to the point now where GPs are having to attend emergency cases in the absence of sufficient ambulances, despite a lack of training and equipment.
I recently heard from a GP who revealed to me that they once had to tend to a patient with suspected sepsis for over three hours whilst waiting for an ambulance that never showed up.
Despite their best efforts, the patient died.
Not only is this crisis causing avoidable harm to patients it is also destroying staff morale, something which we can ill afford.
The Welsh Government must act now to curb this crisis and relieve pressure off GPs and patients before it is too late.”
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