THE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 27 2017
33 Health
Smear test attendance hits 10-year low Slight dip in ambulance response times AMBULANCE response times
to red calls - the most critical - dipped slightly across Wales in December, with Hywel Dda UHB the worst-performing Health Board. However, Hywel Dda’s
WOMEN across Wales are
being urged to get a smear test, with figures now at a 10-year low. According to Public Health Wales,
out of the 264,700 women aged 25- 64 who were invited for a smear test in 2015/16, 204,100 attended with a turnout rate of 77.8%. Now the charity Jo's Cervical
Cancer Trust have warned that unless more women attend the smear tests, more lives will be lost. Smear testing coverage throughout
Wales is still the highest in the UK, despite one in five women not attending the tests. The charity has now started a #SmearForSmear campaign and hopes to raise awareness of the screening available to women.
The Chief Executive for the
charity, Robert Music, said: "We have one of the best cervical screening programmes in the world, saving approximately 5,000 lives every year. "However, at a time when the
number attending in Wales is at a 10-year low, we need to be seeing increased investment in targeted awareness campaigns to encourage women to take up their invitation for cervical screening. "Cervical screening prevents 70%
of cervical cancers from developing and if we do not prioritise prevention, there will be more women facing the physical and psychological cost of cervical cancer, an increased burden on the NHS and state, and more lives lost."
performance exceeded the target set, and the country-wide average of 75.8% - down from 78.9% in November - still comfortably exceeded the national target of 65%. This came as the Welsh Ambulance
Service reported that they had received the highest daily number of calls on record – 1,344. In December, the service received
41,668 calls, which represented an increase of more than 7% on December 2015. However, the response rate was better in 2016. A Welsh
Government
spokesperson said it was testament to all those working in the service that the average response time to the most serious calls was under five minutes, despite record levels of activity. “Over 1,300 calls were made on
average per day to the ambulance service last month, the highest daily rate recorded and an indicator of the pressure NHS staff have been under
over recent weeks,” they said. “There is more work to be done
by NHS Wales to reduce patient handover delays and longer waiting times for non-life threatening calls and we continue to monitor the situation closely.”
However, Conservative Shadow
Health Minister Angela Burns was less impressed: “The slip in performance is to be expected given the unprecedented winter pressures ambulance drivers and their paramedics have had to contend with, often having to queue for hours outside hospitals with desperately ill patients in tow. “Congested A&E departments -
caused by increased demand, chronic bed shortages, poor workforce planning, and a perennial lack of funding - are largely to blame for this. “But the real scandal here is that in
2015, the Welsh Labour Government moved the goalposts on how it measures ambulance response times in order to give the impression of good performance. “Under the new model, just over
4% of ambulance calls are time- targeted. This betrays an incredible lack of accountability, particularly
where conditions such as heart attack and stroke depend on the speed of treatment. “Many cases do not currently
qualify for the most urgent response category unless patients have stopped breathing or their hearts have stopped beating. “The lives and health of patients
are far too high a price to pay for Welsh Government spin, and I call on the Cabinet Health Secretary to redress this issue by putting heart attacks and stroke in the urgent response category to give these patients the critical care they need and deserve.”
36 High Street Haverfordwest SA61 2DA
01437 762935,
www.advocacywestwales.org.uk.
AWWprovides an independent advocacy service for people with a serious mental health problem. The
advocacy service is free, confidential and independent of other services
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
