The Welsh Labour Party: NHS: Investment and reform

Labour is and always will be the party of the NHS. Labour has taken tough decisions to improve our nation’s health, and today there are more doctors, more nurses, better patient care and falling waiting times.

Investment in the NHS

Labour in Wales has delivered record increases in health expenditure – it has nearly doubled since 1999.
Investment in new buildings and equipment is being trebled.
We have more than met our manifesto commitment to invest in hospitals and GP surgeries. We promised to invest £550m in our second term, but we will actually deliver £700m.
Seven new hospitals have either been built or are on the way.
There are now over 8,000 more nurses and over 500 more consultants working for the NHS in Wales. Overall there has been a 28% increase in staff working for the NHS.
The annual medical student intake has doubled since 1999. Today there are nearly 1,000 senior doctors in training for consultant posts.
1,000 more nurse training places in Wales since 1999
Opened a North Wales Clinical School, helping to train staff and improve healthcare in the region.
Labour’s recent budget has allocated £2m of core funding to support the work of hospices.

Improving health

The greatest single measure to improve health in Wales will happen in April 2007, when smoking in public places will come to an end.
Prescription charges have been cut to £3 – they will be abolished altogether in April 2007
The Labour Assembly Government established the Health Inequalities Fund. This is supporting 67 projects that help to cut coronary heart disease.
Developed an annual ‘Keep Well This Winter’ programme to help older people look after their health.
Established the National Public Health Service as a national resource providing specialist public health services combined with local delivery of services.
Provided water coolers to over 300 schools in Communities First areas in Wales. Investment in water coolers and fruit tuck shops as an alternative to sweets and fizzy drinks.
Set up the Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes, involving over 1,100 schools.
Major investment in school sports launched to help meet our target of all secondary school age children doing 60 minutes of exercise at least five times a week. This will support extra-curricular activities such as rugby, football, netball, athletics, break-dancing and salsa.
Extra funding for girls’ sports saw a 70% increase in girls taking part in extra-curricular sports last year. This has helped to bridge the gap between boys and girls by 5%.

Cutting waiting times

Waiting times are down. Today no one waits more than 12 months for hospital treatment.
The majority of patients in Wales are now waiting less than three months for treatment; eight out of ten inpatients and nine out of ten outpatients, wait less than six months.
The latest figures, at the end of 2006, showed the highest number of operations ever carried out in the Welsh NHS in a single month.
Investment being delivered so that by the end of March 2007 no patient will wait more than eight months to see a consultant or receive treatment. By the end of 2009, no patient will wait more than 26 weeks from referral to treatment, including any diagnostics and therapies required.
Introduced the successful second offer scheme to help cut waiting times. Since its introduction in 2004 more than 21,500 patients have been treated through the scheme.
Labour’s investment in social care has led to big falls in delayed transfers of care. They have fallen by over 40% since 2004.
In 93% of practices, patients can see a member of the primary care team within 24 hours.
Nine out of ten patients seen within 4 hours at Accident and Emergency.

Improving dental services

Investment in dentistry has increased by 89% since 1999. This year an additional £30m is being invested to help train more dentists and improve patient care.
112 more dentists in Wales than in 1999.
In the last two years, 12 new practices have opened and 50 practices have been expanded through Labour’s Welsh Dental Initiative.
Over 200,000 extra dental places created through Labour investment during the switchover to the new dental contract.
New dental contract to help improve and retain local NHS treatment. More than 90% of dentists have signed up to the contract.
Free dental examinations for people in Wales under 25 or over 60.

Cleaner Hospitals

The number of hospital acquired infections is falling and Welsh hospitals have a better record than in the UK in tackling hospital bugs such as MRSA.
New rules introduced by Labour mean that all NHS Trusts in Wales have to appoint a senior manager to be responsible for cleaning and tackling hospital-acquired infections.
Labour in Wales changed the rules so that hospital cleaning staff are part of the clinical team, a move that has helped to make our hospitals cleaner.
In our third term, we will end commercial tendering for hospital cleaning contracts so that in the future cleaning will be carried out by NHS staff.

Better care for the most vulnerable

Led the way in the UK by establishing a Children’s Commissioner for Wales and a Commissioner for Older People.
Established a Carers Champion and extra support for respite services to give carers a break.
A ten-year strategy launched for social services in Wales.
Pooled budgets introduced so that the NHS and social care services can work together effectively.
Introduced free nursing care in nursing homes.
Additional investment of £76 million to reduce charges and improve home care services for older and disabled people.
£600,000 extra to improve the service for those who need motorised wheelchairs, dramatically reducing the waiting time for this essential equipment.
Capital funding of £9m to support around 10,000 people with Telecare in their own homes, along with £12.5 million to improve community equipment.
Infant mortality rates in Wales in 2005 hit a record low of 4.1% per thousand live births – much lower than in the rest of the UK.