The Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, is calling on Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) to take urgent action to address the “shocking” concerns raised by staff working in their A&E department.
In a desperate appeal to health board bosses, doctors working at emergency departments at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, as well as Wrexham Maelor and Ysbyty Gwynedd, have warned that patients are dying in ambulances and waiting rooms due to overcrowded emergency departments.
The letters also say staff are being subjected to abuse due to widespread inefficiencies and call out the "dangerous" practice of keeping patients on trolleys in corridors and crowded waiting rooms during a pandemic.
On hearing that a patient had died while waiting in an ambulance, Janet called for an inquiry:
“It’s absolutely disgraceful, but it is just one of many stories I’m hearing.
“I’m at my wit’s end with this health board. We’ve had chief executive after chief executive. Each one comes in promising these improvements. I actually believe that senior management are to blame.
"We need an independent inquiry into the non-workings of the health board. The management have been promising to sort this out. I believe it is top-heavy on management and not enough resources are going into front-line staff.
"I've been meeting GPs from across the constituency, and they are at the end of their tether. They are so fed up with the way things are.
"They are all overworked. They are having to fill in the void of some of the failings of the health board."
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