Further delays to healthcare access have demonstrated the massive crisis facing our healthcare system, due to underfunding. Waiting times for referrals have increased by in many cases another six months.
For children waiting for referrals to an orthodontist, this means that children are waiting up to two and a half years to be referred for specialist treatment.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani said: “For a young child, two and a half years feels like forever. How would you feel as a parent if that was how long you were asked to keep a child waiting for treatment?
“The impact of Covid-19 is huge, and will have impacts in many directions. Right now, we are faced with painful choices about schools remaining open, and children’s healthcare is also critical. Waiting times were too long anyway, and now they are even worse.”
Cllr Louie Hamblett, shadow cabinet member for healthcare, added: “The Conservative Government are lurching from one rushed decision to the next and failing to provide the long-term planning that must be done to address this build-up of health issues.”
Control over the healthcare budget has been partly devolved to the Greater Manchester Mayor, meaning that at least some of the responsibility for addressing this falls to Labour Mayor Andy Burnham.
Cllr Al-Hamdani continued: “The Mayor is currently knee deep in a crisis over the failure to record 80,000 crimes. At the same time, he needs to be managing his healthcare responsibilities too. We need a constructive approach that all parties can get behind – we need leaders to be leading right now.”
The Liberal Democrat team have also approached the Pennine Acute Trust to update their website, which currently indicates that orthodontists are not taking appointments. Despite them saying that they would update this, it currently still shows that appointments are suspended.