“Minister of Health Annette King is to be congratulated for her honesty in admitting that she unintentionally used misleading figures to describe hospital waiting list reductions,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today. Mr Powell was responding to the Minister’s apology today.

“There was some good news in the information on hospital waiting lists released last Sunday. In particular the number of patients both receiving their first specialist assessment and having their operations within six months appears to be increasing. However, there is still the remaining concern about people who are still waiting for necessary assessment and treatment.”

“Our concern was that too much hype and exaggeration was given to the information. Mrs King’s apology made so quickly after realising the error was the mature sensible thing to do. Not all her predecessors have been so responsible. There should be more of it in politics.”

“It may be appropriate, however, for her to quietly but firmly kick the butt of those advisers responsible for the excessive hype and exaggeration,” concluded Mr Powell.

Ian Powell

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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