[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Simon Thomas AM has been criticised for refusing to congratulate Hywel Dda staff on a national award nomination.
The health board’s ‘innovative’ Community Pharmacy Triage and Treat Service, whereby community pharmacies treat minor injuries, has been shortlisted for a prestigious UK Health Service Journal award.
At Assembly question time on Tuesday (20 September), Mid and West Wales Labour AM Joyce Watson asked First Minister Carwyn Jones:
“Will you join me in congratulating the staff from Hywel Dda that have worked extremely hard at delivering this new, highly successful and innovative service, and wish them well (at the award ceremony) in November?”
When, in a testy exchange, Mrs Watson’s Plaid Cymru counterpart, Simon Thomas, failed to acknowledge the success, however, the First Minister hit back:
“This is a very innovative scheme that they have come forward with and it is one to be welcomed. It is a shame he has not welcomed it.”
Introduced as an alternative to attending A&E for low-level injuries, Triage and Treat is the first service of its kind in the UK. Seventeen pharmacies in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire now run the scheme.
Speaking after the debate, Joyce Watson said:
“Primary health care is under a pressure, we all know that – though in Wales, unlike England, we haven’t had a doctors strike and we don’t have a funding crisis in acute hospitals – but to refuse to celebrate success, and congratulate staff, is just churlish.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
