Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to answer when quizzed in the Commons about whether there is a new policy in place for Welsh NHS patients to be treated in England. There are already some patients being treated in England, but it had been suggested by Labour that a new, wider system would be put in place.
Wales' First Minister had denied her party had ever committed to a new formal arrangement with its UK Labour Government counterparts, that's despite the Welsh secretary Jo Stevens saying last month: "What we’re doing is creating mutual aid partnerships across England and Wales so English NHS trusts and Welsh health boards will work together to bring down those surgery waiting lists through identifying capacity in the systems in different specialties and making sure we can get people into theatre, get their operations and get them back to work and back to their families."
Keir Starmer was asked by Plaid Cymru MP Liz Savile Roberts about the issue in the Commons. "The Secretary of State for Wales says that a new cross-border NHS plan would bring down Welsh surgery waiting lists but the First Minister of Wales Labour contradicts her. She denies it has anything to do with bringing down waiting lists. Are they making it up as they go along?"
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The Prime Minister replied: "The difference is this, we now have a Westminster government that wants to work with the Welsh government to deliver. For 14 long years the Welsh Government was in a position where the then-government was in conflict with them. So now we will work together, collaborate and ensure that together we deliver across Wales."
Ahead of Labour's conference in Liverpool, the Guardian ran a story on September 22 labelled "exclusive" headlined: "Labour plans to allow travel between England and Wales for NHS treatment". The article, which remains online without any substantive correction about its accuracy, said: "NHS patients in Wales will be allowed to travel to England for outpatient or elective treatment under plans to be announced by the Welsh secretary on Monday. Jo Stevens will tell the Labour conference in Liverpool that the move will help reduce waiting lists on both sides of the border".
The topic was then carried by other news outlets. On the morning of her speech in Liverpool, Mrs Morgan told BBC Radio she had no issue with cross-border healthcare "in principle" but said there was already cross-border healthcare. That night, Welsh secretary Jo Stevens, who sits in Keir Starmer's cabinet, told BBC Radio Wales: "It’s a plan we’re going to deliver and as I say we will be identifying where there is capacity. We are working with English NHS and Welsh NHS to do that."
Ms Stevens was asked: "If I’m watching this and I’m on a waiting list in Wales, am I any closer to getting it done because of this plan?" She replied: "Yes because what we’re doing is creating mutual aid partnerships across England and Wales so English NHS trusts and Welsh health boards will work together to bring down those surgery waiting lists through identifying capacity in the systems in different specialties and making sure we can get people into theatre, get their operations and get them back to work and back to their families." She said it "should" definitely be quicker for people to get treatment.
"We wouldn’t have put this forward if we didn’t think we could do it. This is one of our central missions bringing down waiting lists, two governments working together only possible because we have two Labour governments," she said, saying the target for patients getting cross border treatment was "as many as there is capacity to deliver on". You can read all the background here.
The following day, under questioning from Conservative group leader Andrew RT Davies in the Senedd, Mrs Morgan failed to give any detail. You can read that exchange here. On October 1, her health minister, Jeremy Miles, told WalesOnline there was a "different" system in Wales. "Our system is different in Wales, it isn't based on that level of choice. There is an element of that in our system but what we want to see is making sure that wherever you live in Wales you get access to healthcare as soon as possible," he said, in an interview you can see here. A week later, Mrs Morgan criticised the Welsh Conservatives, and journalists, for "making things up" - the detail of that exchange can be found here. For the latest politics news in Wales sign up to our newsletter here.
It came up again in the Senedd on Tuesday, October 15, when Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth accused Labour of putting out a press release ahead of their conference without a "real plan". He said his party had asked three border NHS trusts, Powys, Gloucestershire NHS Trust as well as Herefordshire and Worcestershire NHS Trust, whether there had been any correspondence between them and the Welsh Government about the proposal. All three said there had not. Mr ap Iorwerth said the two governments had come up with a "word soup" over the policy which he described as a "mystery to all".
First Minister Eluned Morgan has claimed opposition politicians and journalists have been "making things up" and "putting words into our mouth"
"I think you have all, as well as the media, have been projecting things, what this relationship is all about. The fact is it's all about practical, common sense steps and that's what we're doing. We've brought in these experts who are telling us what works well in the NHS in England and they'll be working with the experts from Wales about how that will work best. Let's be clear, that supporting each other is something that already happens. It happened already. If we can help each other out, we will and we do, and when we look at capacity, frankly, there's not that much capacity in England either".
