Wales NHS remains under 'intense pressure' - HIW report

Hospital and health care in Wales remain under "intense pressure" due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, inspectors have found.

Sustained pressure on emergency care and concern about patient safety have been highlighted in a report into NHS and independent care services in Wales.

Access to face-to-face GP appointments was also a problem for some.

The Welsh government welcomed the report, adding it highlighted a "good quality of care across services".

The report comes as NHS leaders have said there was a "national emergency" in health and social care in Wales.

Independent regulator Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) carried out more than 200 inspections and examined 500 concerns from the public and staff in the 12 months to March.

But, overall, its 2021-22 report found the "quality of care provided across Wales has been of a good standard".

The report has been published as the Welsh NHS Confederation, which represents NHS Wales organisations, said up to 1,500 medically fit patients could not leave hospital because of a lack of social care.

The HIW report highlighted prolonged patient handover delays due to ambulance wait times outside emergency departments, saying it remained a "regular occurrence".

It said it had a "detrimental impact upon the ability of the health care system to provide responsive, safe, and dignified care to patients".

"Scheduled care areas, such as oncology and cardiac wards, where the staff have more control over admission and patient flow, had fewer areas for improvement," it said.

HIW sent out questionnaires to health workers which indicated low staff morale, including challenges around staffing numbers and high demand for services.

It also found changes introduced to deal with Covid continued to alter the way patients accessed services, such as getting access to face-to face GP appointments.

"People told us that they could not always get appointments when they needed them, and found it difficult in some areas to access practices by phone," it said.

"We also found that an element of digital exclusion has continued, with some people unable to access services due to a focus on online and telephone consultations."

In the report foreword, HIW chief executive Alun Jones said that "healthcare services continued to be under intense pressure from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic".

"It is clear there are many challenges ahead for services, for the staff who work within them and for the people of Wales whilst the immense task of service recovery continues," he said.

Welsh Conservative health spokesman Russell George MS said: "Wales' backlog for NHS treatment is lengthier than it has ever been and this year has seen the longest A&E and ambulance wait times on record.

"Labour needs to get a grip on the NHS and stop breaking all the wrong records."

A Welsh government spokeswoman said: "We recognise the ongoing pressures on healthcare professionals and the impact on their wellbeing.

"Staff wellbeing, engagement and retention are core priorities in our workforce strategy for health and social care."

She added changes to GP contracts would improve access to appointments while health boards had been tasked with increasing capacity at hospitals over winter.