IT’S difficult to find evidence of a time – anywhere in the world – where the views of an organisation representing 7,000 experts were pitted against the second-hand opinions of some people who used to live with a country’s leader. Yet that’s exactly what recently happened in Wales.

Readers of this paper may be aware that the British Medical Association – which speaks for doctors across Wales – recently warned Labour’s Welsh NHS is facing ‘imminent meltdown’ and requires an independent inquiry. A warning, you would think, that the First Minister should treat extremely seriously.

The response from Labour’s Carwyn Jones will surely be remembered for some time to come. Responding to me in the Assembly, Mr Jones told us all about his former flatmates in Cardiff who have now entered the world of medicine. ‘I spoke to a few of them over the weekend’, he said, and ‘not one of them agreed’ with the BMA.

So, when encountering a problem of extreme importance to frontline services, it seems we can count on Labour’s Welsh leader to ring round his old college chums and formulate an opinion. I was and remain bemused. Flatmates aside, a sufficient response to the BMA’s concerns remains glaringly absent.

When an organisation of this magnitude calls for action, it should be forthcoming. I implore Labour’s leader to change his approach and put patients first.

Andrew R T Davies, Welsh Conservative Leader