James Evans MS has criticised the Welsh Government for allowing a significant reduction in the number of NHS beds in Wales.
Since the commencement of perpetual Labour-led Welsh Governments in 1999, there has been a reduction of 4,277 in the average daily available beds in the Welsh NHS, from 14,723 to 10,446. Average percentage occupancies have also risen considerably.
The Welsh Conservatives argue that this is a large part of the reason behind the rising NHS waiting times in Wales and the December critical incident declaration by the Welsh Ambulance Service.
Commenting, James Evans MS, the Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said:
“Given the Welsh Labour Government have been aware of increasing demand for our NHS, it was a completely foolish decision to have allowed capacity to collapse in this way.
“Of course we also need to see better patient flow through our hospitals particularly through better support for our social care sector, but we haven’t got a plan on this front from Labour either.
“We need both more hospital capacity and better patient flow to fix this problem and reduce handover delays so that we see fewer ambulances parked outside of hospitals and better outcomes for patients across Wales.”
Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Darren Millar MS added:
“Successive Labour Health Ministers have proven themselves incapable of maintaining adequate NHS capacity to deal with increasing pressures.
“Labour has failed to build the hospitals that they promised and that Wales needs. The people of Rhyl have been waiting for a community hospital for over a decade and West Wales is not going to get their new hospital until at least 2039.
“Labour has broken the system. The Welsh Conservatives will fix it.”
