Powys MP uses conference speech to highlight 'discriminatory' hospital waiting list policy in Powys

Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, David Chadwick, has used his keynote speech at the party’s autumn conference to condemn what he described as a “disgraceful and discriminatory” policy that has seen waiting lists in Powys artificially extended, leaving local patients in pain and without treatment.

Speaking to members, Mr Chadwick said Powys patients were being punished simply because their Health Board had been performing better than others in Wales. Since the summer, Powys Teaching Health Board has deliberately slowed treatment times for patients receiving care in Herefordshire and Shropshire as part of cost-cutting measures.

Chadwick said the move was “an active political choice, not an accident,” accusing Labour Ministers in Cardiff Bay of showing “absolute indifference” to the scandal.

He highlighted the human cost of the policy, pointing out that many residents who had been told they were only weeks away from surgery are now being informed they will have to wait another year, in some cases longer, potentially taking them out of the workforce and leaving them to deteriorate further until emergency intervention is needed instead.

The Liberal Democrat MP said the decision was symptomatic of a wider problem with the Welsh Labour Government, which he described as “tired, indifferent, and out of touch after more than a quarter of a century in power.” He accused Labour of dragging Powys down to the lowest common denominator rather than improving treatment times elsewhere in Wales.

Chadwick also criticised the Health Minister’s lack of response, saying that despite having the power to intervene or provide additional funding, the Welsh Government had shown “complete indifference” to the plight of patients suffering from the policy change.

Chadwick, who has been campaigning against the waiting-times policy both in Parliament and through direct lobbying of Welsh Ministers, is urging local residents to sign his petition calling for the policy to be scrapped ahead of plans to present it to the Welsh Government.

Commenting after his speech, David Chadwick MP said: “In Powys, we’ve seen a disgraceful decision to artificially extend waiting times; not because the system couldn’t cope, but because the Health Board was supposedly treating patients ‘too quickly’.

“It’s utterly unacceptable that people in pain are being forced to wait longer because of short-sighted budget cuts.

“But what I find most shocking is the Welsh Labour Government’s complete silence on the issue, for months now, no condemnation, no action, no compassion.

“Powys residents deserve better than this, and I won’t stop fighting to put an end to this disgraceful policy.”

The petition can be signed at https://www.brlibdems.uk/health-cuts