Monmouthshire County Council should declare a health emergency according to the former leader of the authority.

The call comes from Peter Fox, who is now the Senedd Member for the county and says the scale of the problem facing health services here should be cause for concern. He has written to one of his current successor, Cllr Mary Ann Brocklesby, to declare a health emergency.

“Latest figures show that just under 7,000 people in Wales are waiting more than two years for treatment,” the Conservative MS said.

“Patients in Wales [are] hundreds of times more likely to face extreme delays than those in England. A&E performance is at its worst level for three years and ambulance response times continue to cause alarm across the country.”

Last year, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board was moved to within one step of being placed into special measures on the Welsh Government’s 5-step system.

But since then, the health board announced it had operated at its own level four escalation status during Storm Goretti and introduced a limited visiting schedule for the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport.

Meanwhile, Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital remains plagued by RAAC concrete and the A&E unit at The Grange University Hospital remains under significant pressure.

Denbighshire and Conwy Councils recently also declared a health emergency, citing unsustainable pressure on health and social care services.

The new Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary said Monmouthshire Council should follow the suit of others in Wales.

“After 26 years of Labour running the NHS in Wales, the system is letting people down,” he said.

“We have longer waiting lists than England, worse A&E performance, and heartbreaking stories of people waiting hours for ambulances or being sent home without the care they need.”

“The Welsh Government talks about funding increases, but the reality is very different. Once inflation and the impact of higher National Insurance costs on NHS wage bills are taken into account, this is a real-terms cut to frontline services.”