THE WELSH NHS is lagging dangerously behind England in digitising patient records, with Senedd Member Gareth Davies warning that the country’s health service must be dragged into the digital age.

Speaking in the Senedd, the Vale of Clwyd MS challenged the First Minister to urgently accelerate the digitisation of patient records. Davies criticised the sluggish pace of digital transformation, highlighting that the vast majority of patient records in Wales remain paper-based, while in England, the NHS is advancing rapidly with digital records accessible via the NHS app.

Growing digital divide

Davies warned of an ever-widening “digital rift” between England and Wales, arguing that the Welsh Government’s current plans are insufficient. While Wales has pledged to digitise maternity records by 2026 and introduce electronic mental health records in some areas, Davies insists this is not enough. He emphasised the efficiency, cost-saving, and safety benefits of full digitisation.

Citing a 2020 Public Services Ombudsman report, Davies pointed out that 70% of NHS complaints in Wales could not be fully investigated due to missing medical records. He stressed that digitalisation would ensure patients receive timely and accurate care without the risk of lost or misplaced information.

Calls for immediate action

Following his Senedd address, Davies said: “It’s not a big ask for the Welsh Government to ensure that doctors don’t have to wade through stacks of paper to find a patient’s medical history. The government has been dithering for years, creating a huge digital divide between England and Wales. Our analogue NHS must be brought into the 21st century.”

Impact on Pembrokeshire

Healthcare in Pembrokeshire is already under strain, with long waiting times and stretched resources at Withybush Hospital. The lack of digital records only adds to the burden, with delays in accessing medical histories causing disruptions in patient care. The introduction of digital records could help streamline services, reduce errors, and improve efficiency at local GP practices and hospitals.

Welsh government response

The Welsh Government acknowledges the complexity and cost of implementing an electronic health records system. It has announced several initiatives, including:

• Developing a national business case for a new electronic health records system.
• Expanding the Digital Health and Care Record, linking patient information across Wales.
• Creating a single national clinical data repository through the National Data Resource (NDR).
• Rolling out the NHS Wales App, providing citizens with digital access to health services.
• Digitising prescribing and medicines management across Wales by 2030.
• Enhancing the Welsh Clinical Portal, enabling healthcare professionals to access patient records digitally.
• Introducing the Welsh Nursing Care Record, allowing bedside digital record-keeping for nurses.
• Digitising maternity patient records by 2026.
• Implementing digital mental health records in some areas, such as Betsi Cadwaladr health board.

Opposition and further debate

Despite these initiatives, critics argue the rollout is too slow. The Welsh Conservatives, in a November 2023 debate, pushed for an urgent implementation of the NHS app and e-prescribing across the Welsh NHS. They also urged the government to integrate artificial intelligence and modern digital infrastructure.

Plaid Cymru has also raised concerns about the NHS’s outdated technology, including the continued use of fax machines.

Future of digital healthcare in Wales

Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW), the body overseeing digitisation efforts, has outlined its strategy through 2030. This includes a move towards cloud-based systems, a consolidated electronic health record application, and full digital prescribing.

However, the pace of implementation remains a contentious issue, with Gareth Davies and other campaigners demanding swifter action to prevent Wales from falling further behind England in healthcare technology.

As the debate continues, the Welsh Government faces increasing pressure to accelerate reforms and modernise the NHS for the benefit of patients and healthcare professionals alike.

CAMPAIGNERS in Wales are calling on the Welsh Government to amend NHS regulations to ensure complaints about British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter services are properly recorded, amid concerns that Deaf patients are being let down by the system.

The Cardiff Deaf Support Group has urged Senedd members to press Health Minister Jeremy Miles MS to change the ‘Putting Things Right’ (PTR) regulations. Currently, concerns about BSL interpreter services in NHS Wales hospitals and GP practices are not recorded as a separate category, making it difficult to assess the scale of issues.

Impact on patients in Pembrokeshire

While the campaign originates in Cardiff, the issue affects Deaf patients across Wales, including those using services at Withybush Hospital and GP surgeries in Pembrokeshire.

Cedric Moon, secretary of the Cardiff Deaf Support Group, requested data on BSL-related complaints under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act. However, responses from Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB) confirmed that such concerns are not centrally recorded and would require a manual search of records—an effort the UHB says exceeds the time and cost limits set under FoI laws​​.

Health boards, including Hywel Dda UHB, which oversees healthcare in Pembrokeshire, are required to publish annual reports on patient complaints. However, concerns about BSL interpretation failings are not reported separately, making it unclear how many Deaf patients have struggled to access NHS services in the county.

Appeal to the health minister

In his letter to Senedd member Rhys ab Owen, Mr Moon called for action to amend regulations so that BSL-related complaints are documented and made publicly available in NHS Wales annual reports.

Regulation 51 of the PTR framework states that health boards must produce an annual report detailing the nature and number of concerns received. However, without a specific category for BSL issues, these complaints are effectively invisible​.

“We need accountability,” said Mr Moon. “BSL users in Wales should have the same rights as everyone else when it comes to raising concerns about NHS services.”

A systemic issue

The Cardiff and Vale UHB’s refusal to provide data highlights a wider problem across NHS Wales, campaigners argue. The exemption under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act—citing the excessive cost of retrieving data—has been used to deny access to statistics on multiple occasions​.

Hywel Dda UHB has not yet confirmed whether similar issues exist locally, but Deaf patients in Pembrokeshire rely on interpreter services for GP and hospital appointments, and any gaps in provision could affect their ability to access care.

Mr Moon is now urging the health minister to intervene and update the regulations to ensure all health boards, including Hywel Dda, are required to record and report on BSL interpreter service complaints.

The Herald has contacted the Welsh Government and Hywel Dda UHB for a response.

A KEY target for ambulances to respond to the most urgent 999 calls within eight minutes, which has not been met in five years, will be ditched following a review.

Jeremy Miles, Wales’ health secretary, announced a move away from the time-based target of responding to 65% of life-threatening “red” calls within eight minutes from July 1.

The Welsh Government target was last met in July 2020, with 48% of 6,073 red calls receiving an emergency response in eight minutes in January this year.

Mr Miles said a clinician-led review found the eight-minute target, which has been the standard since the 1970s, is no longer appropriate nor fit for purpose.

In a statement to the Senedd on March 11, he explained the ambulance service will trial changes over the next year which will focus on outcomes rather than response times.

A purple category – for cardiac and respiratory arrest – will be added, with the red category for major trauma, bleeding and cases where a person’s condition could rapidly deteriorate.

Mr Miles said of the current eight-minute target: “There is no evidence it helps drive better outcomes. It does not support effective clinical prioritisation.”

He added: “This means that precious ambulance resources are being dispatched to people who are less seriously ill and may not require emergency treatment or onward hospital care.

“And we measure success purely through the lens of response time in these examples. So, if an ambulance arrives in eight minutes and one second and the person survives – that would be regarded as a failure because the response time target was missed.

“But, perversely, if the ambulance arrived within eight minutes and the person unfortunately died – that would be regarded as meeting the target.”

Mr Miles said survival rates in Wales after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are less than 5%, compared with 9% in Scotland, 10% in England and far higher elsewhere in the world.

“This is not acceptable…,” he told the Senedd. “We must aspire to do better and to match survival rates in European countries and some US cities.”

The health secretary stated both the purple and red categories will be subject to time-based targets, with an average expected response time of six to eight minutes.

He detailed a focus on early CPR and defibrillation before announcing a group to review ambulance patient handovers, with around 27,000 hours lost due to delays in January.

Mr Miles told Senedd Members: “We must have a significant improvement in ambulance handover performance to ensure ambulances are available to respond to 999 calls in the community and not stuck outside hospitals for hours on end.”

Before the pandemic the median response time for red calls was four minutes and 30 seconds but at the beginning of this year the average was eight minutes and 17 seconds.

Most calls are “amber”, for which there is no corresponding measure, but a further review will assess whether to introduce targets for the category which includes stroke symptoms.

The Senedd’s health committee called for a review of the red target in a report published in August after taking evidence from the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust.

Russell George, the Tory chair of the committee, welcomed the statement, adding: “But, of course, having targets in place is important – they’re there to ensure accountability.”

Plaid Cymru’s Mabon ap Gwynfor also backed the change in direction, describing the red response time target as “largely ornamental” over the past half a decade.