AN SOS by desperate patients waiting for treatment in Wales and Scotland has prompted a rescue mission that will refer them to ENGLAND for care.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has offered a lifeline to the stricken Welsh and Scots health services who are struggling to treat the long-term sick.
The intervention comes as ministers say Labour is to blame for the appalling record of NHS provision in Wales after two decades in charge there.
Senior Tories believe the move will expose a clear dividing line between England and the devolved nations after Sir Keir Starmer called Wales a “blueprint” for the rest of the country.
The latest move will build on existing arrangements for cross-border healthcare, offering a choice of NHS or private care.
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Mr Barclay spells out his new plan in a two-page letter to Scotland’s Health Minister Michael Matheson and Welsh counterpart Eluned Morgan.
In it he says he would 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”.
He also said: “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.”
In his letter, he spells out that 73,000 people are waiting more than 77 weeks for treatment in Wales, and 21,600 Scots patients are waiting more than 78 weeks.
Figures also show there are 748,395 people awaiting hospital treatment in Wales, out of a population of just over three million.
Costs of the scheme are set to be met by Edinburgh and Cardiff and meetings will be set up between health ministers.
But the proposals come on the back of new figures revealing a record high of 7.6million people in England waiting to start treatment at the end of June.
Patients in England have a legal right to have their first outpatient appointment either with the NHS or the private sector.
Ministers say from this October they will “proactively” notify anyone waiting more than 40 weeks in England that they can choose if they want to be treated by an independent provider.
In his letter, Mr Barclay writes: “The Prime Minister has made cutting waiting lists a priority for the whole of the UK.
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“I am therefore concerned by the variation in performance across the NHS services.”
The invitation to the devolved nations comes as Welsh Secretary David Davies launched a blistering attack on the Labour-run NHS in Wales, saying it is “on its knees” after being in Labour hands since devolution.
Rishi Sunak and Labour chief Sir Keir regularly clash about the NHS in Wales at Prime Minister’s Questions, and Mr Davies said: “The Welsh government receives 20 per cent more money per head to spend on the NHS so they can’t say that the problems they face are due to a lack of money.
“I think 80 per cent of those on a waiting list have been waiting a year in Wales.
“It’s about five per cent in England. And they will say this is a blueprint for the rest of the country.”
He added: “Anyone with friends or relatives in Wales should ask them how they think their health service is being run.”
And he continued: “I remember in 1999, I was part of the campaign to stop the Welsh Assembly being set up.
“We were sent these glossy leaflets which focused in on the health service, pictures of smiling patients, and happy nurses, they were going to transform the NHS.
“The NHS now is in a far worse state than it ever has been. And it’s in a much worse state than it is in England.
“And that’s why I regularly get patients coming into my surgery as a local MP, saying, ‘I don’t want to be treated in Wales. I want to have the same access to treatment that I’d get in England’.
“A few years ago I even came across a woman who tried to change her address, literally, so that she could get access to what a Conservative-run NHS offer in England.”
And he said of Welsh NHS patients on the waiting list: “I hope they will welcome Steve Barclay’s offer, which is a genuine offer.
“It’s about saying if you’re waiting for a hip operation in Rhyl in North Wales, and you can be treated in Chester, you should have the right to be treated in Chester.
“You’re a UK citizen, and if they treat you in a few months as opposed to a few years, you should have the right to do that.
“Sir Keir Starmer has said the Welsh Labour government is his ‘blueprint’ for the whole of the UK.
“That couldn’t be a more terrifying prospect.
“From a Labour-run Welsh NHS, where you’re four times more likely to face long waits for treatment than in England, to the £1,500 payments they want to hand out to illegal immigrants.
“People in Wales are being let down, and Starmer is proud of it.”
Last winter saw the worst ambulance wait times on record in Wales, with only two in five 999 calls responded to within the eight-minute target.
The figures have improved over the summer, but still only 54 per cent of 999 calls were responded to in eight minutes in June.
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, responding to the initiative, said: “What’s next, the Conservatives offering advice on bringing mortgage costs down?
“The only advice the Tories are qualified to offer is how to wreck the NHS and cause the biggest strikes in its history.
“If they’ve given up governing, they should step aside so Labour can give Britain the fresh start it needs.”