This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-29719364

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Health row puts patients and NHS staff 'at risk' Wales NHS: Labour accuses Tories of 'dirty tricks'
(about 3 hours later)
Political infighting over the NHS in Wales is putting patients and staff at risk, a nurses' leader has claimed. A "dirty tricks" campaign over the Welsh NHS is being waged by the Conservatives, a Labour AM has claimed.
It follows a war of words between Welsh health minister Mark Drakeford and his Westminster counterpart Jeremy Hunt over Welsh Labour's record on health. Pontypridd AM Mick Antoniw accused the Tories and the Daily Mail of a "conspiracy" to denigrate Welsh Labour by selective use of statistics.
Tina Donnelly, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, said health services right across the UK were under pressure. He accused UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of "political interference" over a planned UK-wide health service review.
She said arguments between politicians just added to the pressure on staff. But Monmouth MP David Davies said Labour was trying to block the review which has not yet looked at Wales.
"It's extremely disappointing - most of the NHS staff in Wales will put patients at the centre of their delivery, and to have politicians scaremonger about the standard of service within the NHS in Wales is from our point of view not wanted," she told BBC Radio Wales. The latest political row over the Welsh NHS broke out on Monday following claims by the Daily Mail that the NHS in Wales was in "meltdown".
"Every day we are faced with pressures in the media - whether it's through poor nursing or challenges in the NHS - and that really does put both patients at risk and staff at risk. 'Tissue of lies'
"If you think of a vulnerable, elderly lady or gentleman sitting in the community waiting to come into hospital thinking that the standard of care that they're going to have is second class, and it's not going to deliver to them then that is immoral." It developed into a war of words between the Welsh and UK health ministers.
Mr Drakeford has accused the Conservatives of telling a "tissue of lies" about the state of the Welsh NHS. Welsh Health Minister Mark Drakeford accused the Conservatives of telling a "tissue of lies" about the state of the Welsh NHS, after UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons that patients in Wales were getting a "second-class" service.
It follows claims by UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt patients in Wales were getting a "second-class" service. Mr Drakeford also accused Mr Hunt of intending to "quote selectively" from a planned review of NHS services across the UK by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Mr Drakeford also accused him of feeling he had the right to "quote selectively from an unpublished report" into NHS services in the UK. The survey has been commissioned to compare the health services of the four UK nations and is scheduled for release in February 2015.
But Mr Hunt said the findings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development were too important to be withheld. Mr Drakeford wrote to Mr Hunt saying the Welsh government might consider commissioning its own report from the OECD instead unless Mr Hunt ended his "attempts to subvert the process".
The row between the ministers follows claims by the Daily Mail that the NHS in Wales was in "meltdown". But Mr Hunt said the findings of the OECD should not be withheld from the public.
On Wednesday, the newspaper said patients in Wales were dying waiting for treatment, and claimed nearly 1,400 patients in Wales waited at least a year for an operation, compared to under 600 in England. "I believe we owe it to taxpayers who fund the NHS to show we are willing to learn from other parts of the UK as to where our performance can be improved," he wrote in reply to Mr Drakeford.
Mr Antoniw told BBC Wales on Wednesday: "This is really just part of a dirty tricks campaign by the Tory party in conjunction with the right wing Daily Mail.
"Anyone would think there are queues of people with their luggage on carts heading for England for treatment in the health service there - we know that is strictly not true."
He defended Welsh Labour's threat to order its own report from the OECD on the grounds of "political interference" in the process by Mr Hunt.
But Monmouth Conservative MP David Davies claimed Labour were trying to block publication of a report which he said would reflect badly on the party.
He said the Tories would like to see the OECD report come out "as quickly as possible and preferably ... before the election so we can examine Labour's claim to be the party of the NHS".
He added: "Labour made it a political issue with their attacks on the NHS in England but no-one suggested they were undermining doctors and nurses - I think it's outrageous for them to try and deflect blame."
On Wednesday, the Daily Mail said patients in Wales were dying waiting for treatment, and claimed nearly 1,400 patients in Wales waited at least a year for an operation, compared to under 600 in England.
Meanwhile a nurses' leader has said that political infighting over the NHS in Wales was putting patients and staff at risk.
Tina Donnelly, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, said that to have politicians "scaremonger" about the standard of service within the NHS in Wales was "not wanted".