NHS Wales winter pressure ‘challenging’, says chief exec

Dr Andrew Goodall, NHS Wales chief executive, has said that the NHS in Wales has faced ‘exceptional’ challenges over the winter period.

The comment comes ahead of December's A&E waiting times which are due to be published shortly and will be the first indication of how Wales is coping with winter pressures.

Dr Goodall said: “We're used to having a high proportion of over 85s - the normal level is around 10 per cent but we're seeing levels close to 20 per cent over the last two weeks.

"We remain a system under a lot of pressure but we've prepared very well for this winter.

"There have been some difficult days. But the fact we've come in to this winter with an ambulance service which is performing much more resiliently has really helped us in our response and that we've kept our social care delays low is a positive issue but there is still more to go at."

A spokesman for the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, responsible for hospitals in Swansea, Neath and Bridgend, said: “In particular, we've seen a 32 per cent increase in the number of ambulances arriving with the most urgent category of patients. The number of emergency admissions have also risen by six per cent when compared to last year."

Dr David Bailey, deputy chairman of the BMA in Wales, commented: “We've lost about 40 per cent of the bed numbers in Wales over the last 15 years - like in England - so when there's a surge you haven't the capacity to cope.

"The problems then knock on and even when you get back to more normal levels you have all the backlogs - you can't get people out of hospital because of social care cuts and difficulties in getting people back into their own environment.

"There are then all the concerns about extra overcrowding so you get more hospital-acquired infections - it becomes perfect a storm because of the additional numbers we're not set up to deal with."