Contingency funding for the Welsh NHS must be directed ‘straight to the frontline’, says local AM, Russell George, as the Welsh Government provides Powys Local Health Board with four million pounds to help it meet unprecedented pressures and maintain quality of care.
The Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, made the comments while questioning the Welsh Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths AM, on her announcement to provide ‘additional’ funding of 82 million pounds for the Welsh Health Service for the remainder of this financial year. The money will come from within her budget – a 50 million pounds contingency fund and ‘underspend’ due to ‘project slippage’ in capital expenditure. Of this money, Powys Local Health Board will receive 4 million, which will help it cover much of its costs for the rest of the year.
Mr George asked Mrs Griffiths to make her position very clear to Powys Health Board, that they had to spend the money on treating patients who have been subject to delays.
The developments follow revelations of severe waiting time delays for Powys patients and a recent Wales Audit Office Report that predicted a year end deficit for the Health Board of anywhere between 4 and 9 million pounds.
Commenting, Mr George said:
“While the Minister has been adamant that Local Health Boards would receive no extra money and would be expected to break even, she’s been forced into a U-turn because frontline services are being hit and patients are suffering.
“I think Powys Health Board will be obliged to use this funding to recommence routine treatment for patients who are waiting more than 26 weeks; there is now no excuse for Powys patients to be left in further pain and distress.
“However, this doesn’t detract from the overall position that NHS finances in Wales are in a dire state.
“Lurching messily from one bailout to the next is not giving frontline staff the confidence they need to deliver first class services, nor is it giving patients confidence that they are going to be treated appropriately and on time.
“Health boards like Powys, must be sufficiently funded at the start of the financial year to allow them to plan and commission services properly for the needs of the population.”