Sir, For the past 12 months or more, the terrible twins, David Cameron and George Osborne (aided and abetted by Jeremy Hunt) have attacked the Welsh Health Service (in reality attacking the Labour Party) and disgracefully, attacking the Ambulance Service for delays. They also highlight the number of ambulances queuing outside hospitals, and criticising the paramedics for poor call out targets, clearly not aware that eight minutes are not always sufficient should a medical situation arise, which may require immediate attention. Paramedics sometimes have to treat patients in the ambulance as they wait outside the hospital, which could delay admission times. It is well reported that ambulance staff cannot always admit patients to hospital due to lack of beds available, which, in turn, is due to difficulties in discharging patients, when there are no places for them in the community! The terrible twins relish blaming the ambulance men and women (who are doing a fantastic job) for poor call-out rates. For such 'intelligent' men, it does not dawn on them that the ambulance staff are not always responsible for back logs. What is more disgraceful is that the Tories have not referred to the BBC Radio bulletins, during the past several months: that Northern Ireland targets were behind Wales, and for the first three months of this year England were failing! Not forgetting the very recent report that a hospital in Worcestershire has caused great concern! I can understand why they would not criticise Northern Ireland, as that would bring down the wrath of the DUP upon them. As well as having photo shoots in 'tiny tots' classrooms, playing hand prints, the Prime Minister and Chancellor should put their hand prints on stretchers and wheel chairs in order to understand, not only the wonderful and often heroic work paramedics do, day and night, but the reason why targets cannot always be met. And I do not mean one quick hour or two with shirt sleeves rolled up, but a 24-hour shift. They then may appreciate that in coastal areas, such as Pembrokeshire and beyond, ambulances are called out to coastal situations to deal with people who may be in very difficult and treacherous situations, which can delay time scales. And, as reported in the national and local media, it is shown that patients, when asked what do they think of the National Health Service, have nothing but praise for the ambulance and hospital staff. It is time David Cameron, George Osborne, and Jeremy Hunt apologised the the Ambulance Services. I await their apology.
Michael Doyle,
Bracken Lea, Penally,