Sue Gray accused of protecting up Labour-run Wales’ NHS efficiency
Cabinet minister David TC Davies has accused Sir Keir’s high advisor of serving to to cowl up the dire efficiency of the Labour-run NHS in Wales.
Mr Davies, the Welsh Secretary, claims Sue Gray “dragged her heels” as he tried to uncover simply how dangerous the service was performing in Wales.
He instructed the Sun on Sunday that he had a number of conferences with the previous high civil servant, who not too long ago departed Whitehall after a stint with tasks for coverage on the Union.
During the conferences, he says he had “problems” as she was “not very keen at all on the UK Statistics Authority being able to demand comparable statistics from the Welsh Labour government as well as from the UK government”.
He added: “We need to be able to see what’s going on across the whole of the UK so we can learn from each other.”
However a Labour supply has labelled the allegation “desperate stuff from the Tories”.
“The facts are Sue Gray signed the first deal between the UK government and the devolved administrations to agree data should be shared to improve outcomes across the UK.”
The accusation in opposition to Sue Gray – who rose to nationwide prominence whereas investigating Boris Johnson over Partygate earlier than defecting to a political position within the Labour Party – comes as Health Secretary Steve Barclay was compelled to put in writing to his counterparts in Wales and Scotland to bail them out of their respective ready checklist crises.
Mr Barclay has provided to permit Welsh and Scottish sufferers to entry providers in England, the place the long-term sick wait considerably much less time to be seen.
The Health Secretary has stated he’s involved on the “variation in performance across the NHS services”.
According to statistics, regardless of a inhabitants one-tenth of that in England, Scotland has 21,600 individuals ready 78 weeks or extra for appointments in comparison with 7,177 south of Hadrian’s Wall.
Rishi Sunak’s 5 principal priorities embody lowering NHS ready lists, with a 94 p.c drop from the 124,811 sufferers ready over 78 weeks in England in September 2021.
In Wales, 73,000 sufferers are ready over 77 weeks, regardless of a 3 million inhabitants.
Mr Barclay generously stated he can be “open to considering any request from you for patients waiting lengthy periods for treatment in Scotland and Wales to be able to choose from alternate providers in England”.
“This will help to ensure we are joined up when it comes to cutting waiting lists — one of the Government’s top five priorities — and will allow us to better work together to improve performance and get patients seen more quickly.”
Meetings might be arrange in Edinburgh and Cardiff to debate the prices of the scheme.
Sir Keir Starmer beforehand stated that Welsh-run Labour is a “blueprint for what Labour can do across the UK”.