BRIAN GIBBONS AND ROSEMARY BULTER

ILLUSTRATE THEY ARE UNAWARE OF GWENT CARDIAC ISSUES

William Graham (Conservative AM for South Wales East) expresses his concerns of the apparent lack of awareness shown by Labour Assembly Health Minister Brian Gibbons, and Newport West AM Rosemary Butler.

“In Plenary earlier this month, Labour AM Rosemary Butler ask the Minister a ‘self congratulatory question’ on improvements to Cardiac Services in Gwent, so that she could highlight the installation of a defibrillator at Newport railway station.

“Neither Dr Gibbons nor Mrs Butler mentioned that the defibrillator had been stolen and therefore no longer available for cardiac emergencies”.

”I drew the Ministers attention to the British Heart Foundation ‘Doubt Kills’ campaign, which encourages people to call 999 for an ambulance if they suffer chest pain. I outlined how such calls would be classified as a category A emergency, and that the Labour Assembly Government had a target for 60% of category A calls to be responded to within eight minutes”.

“In Monmouthshire only 38% of category A calls were responded to within eight minutes, 42.5 per cent in Blaenau Gwent and 45 per cent in Torfaen and Caerphilly”.

“The Assembly Labour Government consistently emphasises how it is investing in ‘preventative care’ within their health strategy, and yet neither Dr Gibbons nor Mrs Butler referred to the ‘Ticker Test Project’, successfully piloted in Gaer, which assists patients identified as at risk of developing coronary heart disease to develop healthier lifestyles.

William Graham  JP, AM

SPOKESMAN FOR EDUCATION

CONSERVATIVE MEMBER FOR SOUTH WALES EAST

Direct Line – 02920 898348

Email – william.graham@wales.gov.uk