Thursday, June 22, 2006
Ambulance story rolls on
The Welsh media cannot put down the story about the Health Minister triggering an inquiry into his own department by pressing the wrong voting button. They have now switched their attention to former ambulance chief Roger Thayne who resigned in May, warning that 500 lives were at risk each year unless there was investment and who called for an inquiry himself.
In the chamber on Tuesday the First Minister rather foolishly tried to deflect criticism by attributing unsubstantiated motives to Mr. Thayne for his resignation. He said that Mr Thayne had not been in post long enough to understand the problems facing the ambulance trust and that the pressures of commuting from Staffordshire had contributed to his resignation.
Mr. Thayne has now directly contradicted this, pointing out that he was called in by the Welsh Assembly Government at the beginning of last year to carry out an assessment of the service prior to taking charge of it.
Rhodri Morgan has now been forced to back down, but the whole episode does illustrate the complete chaos that prevails in his government, as well as the way that Labour have lost their grip on the way that the Welsh Health Service is being run.
In the chamber on Tuesday the First Minister rather foolishly tried to deflect criticism by attributing unsubstantiated motives to Mr. Thayne for his resignation. He said that Mr Thayne had not been in post long enough to understand the problems facing the ambulance trust and that the pressures of commuting from Staffordshire had contributed to his resignation.
Mr. Thayne has now directly contradicted this, pointing out that he was called in by the Welsh Assembly Government at the beginning of last year to carry out an assessment of the service prior to taking charge of it.
Rhodri Morgan has now been forced to back down, but the whole episode does illustrate the complete chaos that prevails in his government, as well as the way that Labour have lost their grip on the way that the Welsh Health Service is being run.
