Is the Welsh NHS on the mend?

Local TV

After months of record breaking waiting times, the most recent figures show some signs of life for our NHS in Wales, but it doesn’t necessarily mean everything is fit and healthy. We’re speaking to people in Newport about their thoughts on some positive signs for our health service.

Transcript

00:00Still, I think 10 years wait for a corrective surgery as well, it's not great.

00:07We've had months and months of record-breaking NHS waiting times,

00:11with two years or more wait times higher than ever,

00:14shorter waits increasing and even sitting in waiting rooms

00:16taking hours and hours out of people's lives.

00:18But the most recent statistics have shown some signs of life.

00:22First Milita and Leonid Morgan have said there are positives to be taken from recent figures,

00:26but there's still plenty to be done.

00:27I'm here in Newport speaking to people about their experiences

00:30and whether they think that there are signs of hope for our health system

00:33or if there's still too many problems to look at the positives just yet.

00:37I was chatting with a lady in town who was blind and she went in for treatment

00:41and they said on her notes to not give this person this certain medication,

00:45it would make them go blind.

00:47The nurse ignored the notes, gave it to her, she went blind.

00:49When she went for a medical tribunal, they couldn't find her notes.

00:52So yeah, it's not all good.

00:55Like, have you got an NHS and it's one of the best systems in the world,

00:58especially compared to a man, oh, you've got to pay for everything.

01:00You look at other candidates, yes, the NHS is great.

01:02The only thing I noticed with the Newport is that they're kind of like,

01:05you get sent to the Gwent and then they'll tell you to go to the Grange,

01:09you go to the Grange, you tell you go to the Gwent.

01:10But yeah, I couldn't really say I've ever noticed an improvement,

01:14but I haven't noticed the escalation I got.

01:18I haven't actually been experiencing the NHS recently at all.

01:22So I know my grandmother's recently come out of hospital

01:25and she had a few issues with waiting to get her bed

01:28and had to be sat in a chair for a few days and that's all it, yeah.

01:32The last time I would have used their services

01:33would have been when I had my child about two years ago now.

01:35I thought they were all amazing back then.

01:40I know there still needs to be improvements,

01:43probably, you know, the pace needs to be better.

01:46Millions of people use the NHS in Wales every year

01:49and everyone has a different experience.

01:51People have told me that themselves or family members

01:53have been waiting much longer than they'd expect for treatment,

01:56but others have also said they've had simple, easy and efficient experiences.

02:01I think it's positive to see, like, they will come down.

02:04Like, I'm waiting for an operation on my shoulder

02:07and I'll be done in a couple of weeks' time, so it's not bad.

02:10Last time I waited for about three months,

02:12a couple of weeks I'll be all right, I'll be done, yeah.

02:15I think it's getting better, but people are always ill, so what can we do?

02:20And, like, the physio, I had to refer myself back to physio

02:23and I peered back straight away, so I have, yeah.

02:27And I've seen an, also, increase within the amount of, like,

02:33district nurses out in the area.

02:35If it is purely just down to the waiting list, then, yeah,

02:38a 10-year wait to have your jaw corrected,

02:40which you should really have done before you're 30,

02:42is quite abysmal, really.

02:44But I do know of other people, other people who had gallbladder issues

02:49and they had them sorted out pretty quickly within, say, like, a year.

02:53So I think it kind of depends where you're at.

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