OXYGEN CONTRACT FLOATING ON HOT AIR

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 9th Oct 2006

Welsh Lib Dem Health Spokesperson, Jenny Randerson AM said:

"Following continued complaints from constituents about the Oxygen service provided by Air Products, I wrote to the Assembly's Health Minister, Brian Gibbons.

"He advised that the Local Health Boards are responsible for commissioning this service and suggested I may wish to contact the Cardiff Local Health Board, which I did.

"However, they responded that this was a national contract negotiated and agreed by WAG and the oxygen contract is not, therefore, a service commissioned by LHBs".

"If neither is willing to claim responsibility for commissioning this service, what hope do the rest of us have when trying to access it? They say that success has many fathers but failure is born an orphan and that is certainly the case with the Oxygen Contract which is floating on hot air".