THE NHS has hit back at claims it is playing roulette with patients lives by exposing them to poor quality services.
Kirsty Williams, Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, said health boards were exposing patients to sub-optimal quality of care and safety, which can lead to death, multiple permanent injuries or irreversible health effects.
The accusation came after the party obtained details of health boards risk registers, which appeared to show gaps in core services.
The registers include an example from Hywel Dda Health Boards risk register, which states patients with heart attacks who attend any of the four hospitals in West Wales will not receive treatment acutely because of a lack of availability for pericutaneous coronary intervention for the population.
And Cardiff and Vale University Health Boards register states rates of Clostridium difficile are high and have a significant adverse effect on patients affected.
Ms Williams said: I find it unacceptable that in many areas across Wales the NHS, under this Labour Government, is putting patients at extreme risk. This is the real state of our health service, as revealed by the people who deliver it.
I understand that the risk registers are continually evolving documents and some health boards have reduced the risks patients face while being treated, but these revelations do raise some serious questions about the standard of service that is being delivered in our NHS right across Wales.
Helen Birtwhistle, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said: Risk registers are essential for health boards and NHS trusts to ensure the care they provide is as safe as possible.
It is good governance to list all potential risks, so the NHS knows what actions it needs to take to lessen risk and make care safer.
All NHS organisations in Wales look very carefully at how they can keep improving the safety of care at the same time as managing limited resources.
The NHS is exploring opportunities to bring services together, so that some of the risks that have been identified can be reduced and the quality of care for patients improved.
Hywel Dda Health Boards medical director Dr Simon Mahon said: We would like to reassure patients risk registers are an essential mechanism by which we can identify and address potential patient safety issues.
source: walesonline.co.uk
