The spin coming out of Cardiff Bay is making us dizzy! Please stop with the political hype and high promises that the people of Wales can somehow - magically - expect to be treated for cancer sooner rather than later.
As things stand now, Welsh Government policy is that 75 per cent who receives a cancer diagnosis can expect treatment to begin within 62 days.
It’s a promise that was made by Baroness Eluned Morgan when she was our Minister for Health.
That target has never been met.
Nor has a previous target that Ms Morgan’s predecessor introduced, which said that two-thirds of cancer patients should begin treatment within that two-month deadline.
Now Ms Morgan’s administration wants us to believe that 80 per cent will be treated within those first 62 days.
Come on. Who are you kidding? Why are you taking us as fools?
Now, a committee down in Cardiff Bay has heard that senior NHS officials want the entire target scheme scrapped. Appearing before the Senedd’s public accounts committee, NHS Wales deputy chief executive Nick Wood suggested the 80 per cent target could go.
“I think we need to reflect on experience and what’s happened in the years since,” he said.
Mr Wood pointed to a report on NHS performance following a review by an advisory group that was appointed by the Welsh Government. “I think some of their recommendations are helpful in terms of stating at this point that it’s probably ill-advised to move the target to 80 per cent when there isn’t really a realistic proposition of us getting to 80 per cent over the next 12 months.”
None of Wales’ seven health boards have hit the 75 per cent target since August 2020 and latest statistics for February showed 60 per cent started treatment within 62 days.
All these targets do is create noise, and the hype and press that greets each announcement merely serves to underscore that. They are soundbites from politicians who want the public to believe that things are getting better and we’re being looked after.
We’re not. Is it any wonder we’ve lost faith in our politicians?