Jeremy Miles, the health secretary of Wales, has admitted that the consequences for any underperformance are set too low. Miles updated the health leaders with regard to offers intended to reduce the waiting list and said these proposals included queuing patients who missed outpatient appointments.
Other proposals included getting fit for surgery, the national commissioning of private care, and NHS leadership reform. Some proposals won support from some of the hospital staff and patients, while one health-equality charity head stated that the changes may act as deterrents to seeking care.
With hardly any progress being noted recently in waiting times, some will see proposals for improvement in the NHS by the Welsh government: He states, "Too often when I have challenged people about why budgets have been blown or targets missed, the response has been almost a shrug." He went on to say that patients who deliberately fail to attend and cancel their outpatient appointments at the last minute should be dealt with, except for pregnant women and children.
With this in mind, he had recommended procuring some level of satellite private healthcare nationally to address the issue. He said high-level reform in NHS leadership should allow a greater degree of regional collaboration to drive down waiting times while being refocused to empower the Welsh government to "hold the service to account."
Patients who are fit and recovering quickly will be sponsored by the Welsh government; meanwhile, the others will be helped "in the best possible shape" to receive treatment. The health charity Fair Treatment for the Women of Wales claimed that some may face longer delays on account of potential weight stigma. Appointments can be an entanglement for anyone, let alone for a woman in Wales who is presumed to be the primary caregiver. One barrier would have been knocked down merely by their passing through the front door after six weeks, during which they would no longer have been in the hospital setting."
Those sorts of people feel like exercising; that is their behavior change that stays with them. Almost a preventative measure; they don't want to see a doctor, don't want to go to the NHS, want to keep moving. He said it will not be easy for everybody. There are some that do miss appointments and have good reason for doing so. It is about education because when an appointment is missed, it costs resources, and that just adds to the waiting time," he added.