Latest news with #HealthcareInspectorateWales
Rhyl Journal
12-06-2025
- Health
- Rhyl Journal
Patients waiting up to 48 hours to be seen in North Wales
The issue was raised at a social care and health scrutiny committee at Coed Pella, where councillors grilled Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board chiefs on the state of the NHS in North Wales. Attending the meeting were Dyfed Edwards, chair of the health board; Gareth Evans, integrated health community director; and Alison Cowell, assistant area director for child and adolescent health. Mr Edwards began by acknowledging the challenges the board has faced since being placed in special measures two years ago. He told councillors there had been 'challenges in every area' but claimed the situation had since stabilised. He also pointed to significant reductions in patient backlogs. He said there had been a 43% reduction in the number of patients waiting two years or more for treatment. MORE NEWS: Health board looking at changing planning application review process Park and Ride scheme could return to Glan Clwyd Hospital to ease parking woes Woman 'outsourced and ostracised' after 10-month wait for Glan Clwyd scan results Health chiefs added that a number of areas had improved, citing the example of Ysbyty Glan Clwyd's emergency department, which in 2022 been designated as a Service Requiring Significant Improvement (SRSI) due to concerns raised by the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales. It was de-escalated following an unannounced follow-up inspection of the Emergency Department in 2024. LATEST NEWS: 'Large group of caravans' are found parked on private land in Rhuddlan Rhyl bar opens with golf simulator, interactive darts and karaoke booth Man ignored red light in Rhyl – now he's been handed a fine and points But the claims were met with opposition from councillors, including Cllr Cheryl Carlisle, who questioned how the department could have been de-escalated while patient experiences remained 'worse than ever'. She said: 'You say that Ysbyty Glan Clwyd (YGC), the emergency department (E.D) there, has been de-escalated by the Health Inspectorate for Wales, but the patient experience for those of us in Conwy is worse than ever. 'There are waits of 48 hours. I regularly witness my residents for 48 hours in chairs in corridors, and I'm not quite sure how de-escalation has come around, when things are patently so bad in this central area.' Responding, Gareth Evans defended the board's progress, insisting some performance measures had improved, although he acknowledged major pressures remained. He said: 'I don't think waits have got worse. I think, in some areas, performance data is telling us things have got a bit better. 'So things like how long people are waiting in ambulances before they are offloaded has actually got better; however, there are still some areas which probably haven't improved and probably are pretty much the same. 'So, we still have far too many people that wait more than 12 hours for admission once they need to be admitted. That is a key performance indicator that we are not getting worse on, but we are struggling to make the improvements that we would like to. 'And that is because that particular key performance measure is highly dependent on things that go on outside the emergency department – how long people are delayed getting home from hospital, and indeed, how many people are coming to the front door in the first place. 'So, I wouldn't want to play down the experience of people who use our services and our E.D. at YGC (who say it) still isn't good enough. It isn't. But the concerns that the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales identified when they placed us into special measures have been addressed.' He added: 'But it doesn't mean it's perfect by any means. The problems we have at YGC E.D. are probably no different than the ones we have at E.D. departments anywhere in the UK, I would suggest. 'So there is lots, lots more improvement work going on, and we will need to go on so that hopefully, one day, you'll sit here and say things have got better.'
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Mental health: Young people in care critical of support available
A woman who was moved into care as a teenager has said she "had to reach a psychotic episode" before anyone took her mental health who was moved around between foster and children's homes, said her mental health was "already terrible", including self harm, before going into care aged and politicians said children in care, or with care experience, should get priority access to mental health services with research saying they were four times more likely to face mental health difficulties compared to other Welsh government said it has published a new 10-year mental health and wellbeing strategy to ensure that everyone can access the right support. Georgia said: "It got to the point where I basically had to have a psychotic episode before anyone could go 'oh, you are actually serious when you say your mental health is going downhill'."The self-harming got worse, more regular."I feel like in the care system you have to do quite a lot to get any sort of attention." Joanne, 23, was moved to many foster homes and said she never had stability growing up."I didn't have the support network I needed when I was at my most vulnerable point," she said."I've suffered with mental health since I was really young but it was never realised."A lot of foster placements would tell me it was just for attention and that anxiety and depression wasn't such a thing." Research for Healthcare Inspectorate Wales' Report on Children's Mental Health Support shows that those in care were four times more likely to experience mental health has prompted calls for statutory measures to be introduced, according to Helen Mary Jones, of Carers Trust Cymru."If you've got rights and they can't be enforced, they're meaningless," she said.A legislative proposal by a cross-party group of politicians aims to protect and strengthen the rights of young people across Wales, with focus on those currently in care or who have experienced the care Dodds, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said: "Given the trauma that they've had, the background that they've had, they should really be at the front of the queue for ongoing consistent mental support."We want [support] up until the age of 30 so it doesn't stop when they're 21 or 25, that's really arbitrary, we know that their needs extend way into their adulthood." James, who was placed in foster care at two months old, has said he finds it difficult to sustain relationships with his time in care having a lasting effect in adulthood."When I was adopted there wasn't any mental health support for me or my parents," he said."It was really, 'you are adopted, that's it, off you go' and that affected me greatly growing up."With being adopted and separated from my birth parents, that has an effect on attachment."Brendon, who spent six years in care and works in the young care sector, said he continues to struggle with his mental health in his mid-20s."It definitely traumatised me, I'm not going to lie about that," he said."It's taken me a while to understand the trauma that's had on me, and the effects that it's had on my mental health even up until now."I think it has been incredibly difficult in terms of understanding boundaries, emotions." The Welsh government said more than 400 young people were engaged in the consultation on its 10-year mental health and wellbeing strategy which "focuses on prevention and implementing a stepped care model".It said the strategy would "ensure people can access the most appropriate form of support at the right time, without delay". More on this story on BBC Politics WalesUse BBC Action Line for help and support regarding mental health
