Jeremy Corbyn blames the Tories for NHS crisis… but look at Labour-run Wales

The grim sight of a line of trolleys in a bleak hospital corridor unmasked Jeremy’s Corbyn as a hypocrite, critics claimed last night.

The Labour leader said this week that the Tories were ‘in denial’ about the crisis in the NHS in England.

But this scene at a crisis-hit AE unit shows the state of the Welsh NHS, which has been run by Labour since 1999. 

Tories said savage cuts by Labour had ‘unleashed devastation’.

The grim sight of a line of trolleys in a bleak hospital corridor in an Welsh AE unit unmasked Jeremy’s Corbyn as a hypocrite, critics claimed last night

Their comments came as pictures taken by a relative of a patient showed a nine-strong queue of desperately-ill people waiting to see a doctor at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Wales.

Lucinda Wilcox, 31, from Trelewis, South Wales, was taking her 86-year-old grandmother to AE with a suspected heart attack when she took a photo of the scene.

The businesswoman told how frail and elderly ladies were left on their own, abandoned by paramedics long since called away to deal with yet another emergency. Some had been there for 24 hours.

The Labour leader said this week that the Tories were ‘in denial’ about the crisis in the NHS in England

She said nurses had to fold up their coats when the hospital ran out of pillows as patients shivered in thin sheets because there weren’t enough blankets to go round.

For some the pain was too much, and their condition so serious that IV drips had to be installed to make them comfortable.

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Staff frantically manoeuvred patients away from the automatic doors which let in a blast of freezing air every time they slid open.

Outside Miss Wilcox saw three ambulances waiting with yet more casualties. In the AE unit itself there was another queue of four patients.

Staff said the scene on Tuesday evening at around 6pm was normal – and getting worse every day.

Yesterday Miss Wilcox said: ‘It was so worrying and upsetting to see. The patients were clearly in distress. Some of them were on their own.

‘You could see some of the elderly ones were slouched to one side, some were almost slipping off the trolleys. Some people had thin sheets without any blankets.

Lucinda Wilcox, 31, from Trelewis, South Wales, was taking her 86-year-old grandmother to AE with a suspected heart attack when she took a photo of the scene

‘Some were in pain, some even had drips in them because the staff were trying to make them as comfortable as possible.

‘If any of the patients didn’t have their regular medication on them, they couldn’t get given anything until they saw a doctor.’

Miss Wilcox, who did not have to wait because her grandmother’s condition was so serious, said the photos show the corridor leading the entrance of the main AE unit where there are just a handful of bays available.

She said: ‘The staff said those situations were normal – that is how they work every day. So all they could do is apologise to people and move on to the next task, otherwise the problem is not going to get any better.

‘They said this year is worse than last year and each day is getting worse. They said it’s because people are in hospitals who shouldn’t be in beds. Some can go home, but then there aren’t care packages in place soon enough.

‘Or some of the patients have dementia, and because dementia care home places are so tightly squeezed, they can’t be accepted in a normal home so there’s nowhere for them to go.’

The images at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital were taken on the same day that the Welsh Government’s health secretary, Vaughan Gething, insisted the NHS in Wales was not in crisis.

Yesterday MPs told the Mail that Labour was ‘in denial’ over the severity of the problems in Wales.

Andrew Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn is playing a dangerous game in seeking to weaponise the health service, particularly given the state of the Welsh NHS under Labour.

‘Despite the best efforts of our hardworking staff, there is a crisis on the frontline of the Welsh NHS, and these cases are a distressingly familiar scene for all too many patients.’

He added: ‘Every time Corbyn speaks about the English NHS, people in Wales are reminded of the devastation that the Labour Party has unleashed on the Welsh NHS after years of savage budget cuts.’

David Davies, Conservative MP for Monmouth, said: ‘The NHS in Wales has been in crisis for many years. It’s not perfect in England or Wales, but at least in England we have a minister who is acknowledging that and desperately trying to improve it.

‘In Wales they won’t even acknowledge problems. The reality I have patients who are begging to be treated by the NHS in England. In Wales we wait longer for ambulances, we wait longer in AE units, we wait longer for operations, and we have less access to cancer drugs.

‘It’s high time that people realise that whatever the problems in England, things are much worse in Wales.’

Pictures taken by Miss Wilcox showed a nine-strong queue of desperately-ill people waiting to see a doctor at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Wales

He added: ‘The crisis is the number of people in Wales who want to be treated by a Conservative government.’

James Davies, a GP and Conservative MP for the Vale of Clwyd, added: ‘Labour have run the NHS in Wales since 1999 and my constituents in North Wales know only too well that the provision they receive is inferior to that only 30 miles east, in North West England.

‘Labour are in denial about the state of the NHS in Wales and their contributions at Parliament this week have been both unconstructive and hypocritical.’

Vaughan Gething, the Welsh health secretary, said: ‘Rather than desperately seeking to attack the Welsh NHS to deflect from the unprecedented situation facing the NHS in England, the Tories should be supporting dedicated health and social care staff at this busy and difficult time. We are proud of the fact that we continue work with and support our staff.’

Miss Wilcox said: ‘The staff said those situations were normal – that is how they work every day. So all they could do is apologise to people and move on to the next task’

He added: ‘There have been some exceptional periods of pressure on urgent and emergency care services right across the UK but here in Wales, more than eight out of 10 people spend less than four hours in emergency care facilities from their arrival until admission, transfer or discharge.’

A spokesman for Cwm Taf University Health Board, which runs the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, said: ‘We continue to manage a high level of demand at both Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil and Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.

‘The escalation levels are currently between three (severe pressure) and four (extreme pressure).

‘Although we have plans in place to deal with winter pressures, the public can help us by choosing the appropriate health care service for their needs including one of our minor injury units, their GP, pharmacy or ringing NHS Direct Wales.’