SAM ROWLANDS, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales has hit out at the Welsh Government for its mismanagement of the NHS in Wales.
Mr Rowlands, Shadow Health Minister was speaking in the Senedd during the Welsh Conservative debate on the Labour Welsh Government’s NHS performance.
He said: “We cannot ignore the fact that the Welsh NHS is not in a good place after a quarter of a century of Labour mismanagement, and it is waiting lists that are the evidence of this mismanagement.
“Patients in my constituency and Members’ constituencies are languishing on those lengthy waiting lists and they can’t always access GPs in the way that works best for them, or, they can’t get much-needed NHS dental provision.
“People are genuinely suffering and just imagine being on a waiting list for two years, perhaps in severe pain and in desperate need of surgery: it’s a traumatic experience and it’s unacceptable. For that to be more than 21,000 people in a country the size of Wales is frankly shameful.
“There are some solutions to this Labour-made crisis, First and foremost, fundamental to all this, is that the Welsh Government must ensure that the full Barnett consequentials, the money that comes from the UK Government, that money, is made available for the health service in Wales.
“Let’s not forget, Welsh Government, receive £1.20 for every £1 spent on public services in England. Yet the same Welsh Government chooses to not spend that full amount on our stretched NHS.”
The Welsh Conservatives brought forward a motion which included calls for the Welsh Government to ensure the full Barnett consequential arising from NHS spending by the UK Government is made available for the health service in Wales but this was defeated by 32 votes to 12.
Mr Rowlands added: “I am disappointed, but not surprised that Labour have chosen to turn a blind eye to rising waits for treatment in the Welsh NHS.
“Labour-run Wales has the longest waits for treatment in the whole of the UK, having hit new record highs for two consecutive months while waits fell in England under the Conservatives.
“The Welsh Conservatives will continue to fight for improvements in the running of the NHS as the only party to back hiring more doctors and nurses over Labour’s plans for more politicians.”
