Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, David Chadwick, has condemned Powys Teaching Health Board’s decision to extend waiting times for patients receiving treatment in English hospitals, calling it “a cruel and indefensible act of levelling down.”

In a Westminster Hall debate on cross-border healthcare issues yesterday, Mr Chadwick warned that the new policy means Powys residents will now wait up to twice as long for surgery as patients living just a few miles away in England.

Since 1 July, Powys Teaching Health Board has asked hospitals in Hereford, Shrewsbury, Telford and Oswestry to apply NHS Wales waiting times rather than NHS England’s, despite Powys not having a district general hospital of its own and relies on those services for almost 40 per cent of its healthcare.

The Health Board says the move will reduce spending after being ordered by the Welsh Government to make cuts. English hospitals have raised concerns that the new system could actually cost more, due to the administrative burden of managing separate waiting lists for Welsh patients.

Mr Chadwick highlighted the human impact of the policy, referencing local residents whose operations have been delayed for months or even years.

During the debate, Mr Chadwick criticised the Welsh Labour Government for what he described as a “disgraceful” lack of action. He said Welsh Health Minister Jeremy Miles had shown “no urgency, no intervention, and no interest” in stopping the policy, despite having the power to do so. He also condemned the First Minister’s comments over the summer, dismissing the concerns of Powys residents as “smoke and mirrors”, saying this showed how out of touch Welsh Labour had become with the realities faced by patients living in pain.

The MP also criticised the wider failures in cross-border healthcare between England and Wales, including outdated IT systems that prevent clinicians from sharing patient records in real time. He cited the case of a Powys resident admitted to Shrewsbury Hospital with a serious heart condition whose doctors were unable to access his medical history, calling it “a clear risk to patient safety.”

Commenting after the debate, David Chadwick MP said: “This policy is a cruel and indefensible act of levelling down. Powys patients are being punished simply for living on the wrong side of an invisible border. The Government should be lifting standards across Wales, not dragging people in Powys down to the lowest common denominator.

“Fairness should mean lifting standards across Wales, not dragging Powys down to the slowest waiting lists in the country.

“Both governments need to get around the table and fix this. Powys deserves proper funding, IT systems that allow patient data to be transferred across the border, and a guarantee that no one will ever again be told their treatment must wait for the sake of a budget line. People deserve timely care, dignity and fairness, wherever they live.”