Sue Taylor-Franklin, a powerlifter from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, is working towards becoming one of the strongest women in the world once again. However, her career was put in jeopardy when a knee injury, sustained in a motorbike accident when she was 17, flared up in 2021, and she was told she would have to wait five years for treatment on the NHS. Taylor-Franklin’s knee would regularly swell, making it difficult for her to walk very far, and she was in excruciating pain. She knew that her worn-down bones needed an operation, but she was told that she would not receive one until 2028.
With her mental health suffering and her dependence on strong painkillers increasing, Taylor-Franklin and her wife, Sam, found a clinic in Lithuania that offered the treatment she needed for £10,000. They were unable to afford the treatment, so they turned to crowdfunding, and their target was reached within five weeks with the support of the powerlifting community. She underwent the operation in Lithuania in September 2023.
Taylor-Franklin’s experience highlights a long-standing issue with the Welsh NHS, where one in five people are on a waiting list for planned treatments, and the average waiting time is 46% longer than in England. Conservatives, Plaid Cymru, Lib Dems, Reform, and others have seized upon these figures to attack Labour’s record on health, but experts suggest that these criticisms are not always fair.
Waiting lists in Wales have been a problem for some time, and they have increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Welsh Government argues that its performance has been better than England’s on measures such as four-hour waits in big A&E departments, and that 15% more is spent per head on health and social care in Wales than in England. Health is devolved, so whoever wins the election will not be in charge of the Welsh NHS. However, decisions made in Westminster about how much to spend on England’s public services will likely determine how much money is allocated to Wales and future Welsh health policy.
Taylor-Franklin believes that the NHS needs a complete overhaul because it is in such a dire state. She thinks that it is broken beyond repair and that whichever party gets in will not be able to fix it. While Taylor-Franklin has been fortunate to receive the treatment she needed with the help of others, she fears that not everyone will be as lucky
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