Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, has spoken out about the serious state of dermatology care at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
Having liaised directly with the Executive team, the Member has been informed that:
- There is a significant shortage of Dermatologists due to a number of vacant posts in North West Wales that they have been struggling to recruit to;
- There has been an increased number of urgent referrals from GPs into the service, contributing to an imbalance in capacity and a backlog of urgent referrals and urgent patients waiting to be seen;
- Dermatology colleagues in the central and east areas have been providing support to the west;
- The service has now secured funding to enable insourcing arrangements to be established, with a clinical team from another healthcare provider working at Ysbyty Gwynedd to deliver additional capacity.
Commenting on the dermatology crisis, Janet said:
“That the Health Board has allowed a backlog of urgent dermatology referrals to build up is not only scandalous but dangerous.
“I have constituents who have been waiting years for treatment, suffering because of the Health Board’s inability to take decisive action.
“Whilst the insourcing arrangements provide a glimmer of hope, I know that there has already been a delay in the Health Board signing the contract, and that previous insourcing has ended in disaster with patients abandoned for weeks when money ran out. What safeguards are in place this time?
“In short, dermatology has almost completely grinded to a halt, especially for non-cancer patients. In that circumstance Betsi Cadwaladr should, immediately, have made arrangements with health boards across the United Kingdom to transfer patients for treatment elsewhere. Not doing so, and leaving patients suffering for years is unforgivable”.
ENDS
