“It is people who matter not borders” for field hospital treatment – no consequentials for Wales as England cancels NHS trust debts

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area

This article is old - Published: Friday, Apr 3rd, 2020

The First Minister has said he expects the usual cross border working to continue during the pandemic response, with field hospitals treating

We asked, “NHS England and NHS Wales interact during normal times, for example many visiting Christies in Manchester for cancer treatment. How is cross border working with the reduction in some treatments, and looking to the near future, will NHS Wales resources such as the new field hospital in Deeside be used to support NHS England?”

The First Minister paraphrased the question and answered, “Well, patients from Wales are treated in English hospitals everyday and English patients are treated in the Welsh NHS every day. It’s just the nature of our border. We’ve got a very porous border with big populations on either side of it.

“In this crisis it is people who matter, not borders. So, we know there will be people from Wales who will end up being treated in England and there’ll be people from England being treated in Wales, and it’s people who matter. We will work with our colleagues across the border to make sure that people will always come first.

Further detail was given in answer to other questions on field hospitals, with the First Minister explaining, “By and large, the facilities will be step down facilities, they will be for people who are recovering. So some will be for coronavirus patients who are no longer infectious but are not yet fully recovered and continuing care, but they will be other patients recovering from other conditions who can be looked after in a field hospital. Thus, freeing up the more intensive capacity that a fully equipped hospital will be able to provide.

Speaking on staffing of the field hospitals he said, “We expect staffing to be a mixture, there will be people who are currently employed in the NHS. There will be people from the fantastic number of people who have come forward, recently retired doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, student nurses in their final year of training, medical students who are just about to go back into go into the workforce. The First Minister also explained that visiting will be a decision ‘for those on the ground’.

In a separate question we also asked, “English Health Minister Matt Hancock announced a wiping of NHS trust debt, speculated at being around £13bn . If that is a reality will your Government use any consequential in a similar manner?”

The First Minister pointed out that the £13bn was not real cash, “There will be no consequential because this is not real money, it is just an accountancy exercise” stating that in England it is ‘debt on the book, and they cancel the debt.

“They do not use money for it” and thus there is “no consequence for Wales”, he added that the level of indebtedness of trusts in Wales “are simply not of the same order” as England.

Following on a theme of questions submitted by us this week we asked “As a 65 year old what are your personal thoughts about the NICE COVID-19 guidelines, and do you think your age or frailty should be a factor in deciding if you would benefit from critical care intervention?” however that did not get put to the podium.

You can view the full brief and Q&A below: