Devolution: Making the right moves

Politicians are forever accusing each other of ‘ambulance chasing’ but once you get past the misrepresentation and media commentary, the suggestion by Plaid’s Helen Mary Jones about ‘devolving’ ambulance services to the newly created Local Health Boards actually appears to have some mileage; in a manner of speaking.

The present All-Wales ambulance trust suffers from all the endemic problems associated with public sector monoliths. Changes in management and equipment have patently not delivered across-the-board improvements and, in many cases, well-intended ministerial intervention only seems to have produced a successive lowering of a common denominator when it comes to service delivery. An alternative approach based on locally provided services geared to a smaller number of NHS 'outlets' might well be an answer.

But Plaid need to be careful in presenting the proposed action as a cost-saver when they have yet to describe the mechanism by which standards are to be subsequently improved and maintained throughout the LHBs. If this is to be achieved by yet another internal inspectorate, with its own inevitable burgeoning bureaucracy, then the cost-benefits become questionable.

It’s an idea that needs to be thought through and would probably have been better made as part of a committee session rather than a party conference – which is probably the point that Andrew RT Davies was making – but anything that has the potential to improve response times is clearly something worth a hearing.

Update: No mention either on this otherwise impressive video.