The Plaid Cymru Welsh Government has given the green light to hospital closures and downgrades by failing to back a Conservative motion ruling out NHS service cuts in this Senedd term.
In a defeat for the Plaid Cymru Government, the Senedd passed the motion.
Concerns over the future of services come as the backlog of repairs in the NHS estate has risen to almost £1billion, an increase of 71% in just four years. Serious concerns have been raised at 12 of Wales' 13 major hospitals.
Welsh Conservatives warned that years of underinvestment and poor planning have left NHS infrastructure under severe strain, while patients continue to face long waits for treatment and uncertainty over the future of local services.
Last year, Mark Drakeford said ‘We have too many hospitals and too many beds’, despite ambulances regularly being seen queued up outside Accident & Emergency departments, unable to transfer patients due to a lack of beds.
Natasha Asghar MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, said:
"Before the election, Plaid campaigned to protect threatened health services, but now in government have become apologists for cuts to essential services, downgrades and centralisation.
“Many patients will have voted Plaid falsely believing NHS services were safe in their hands. Today’s vote shows that simply isn’t the case.
“After 27 years of Labour running the Welsh NHS, patients have seen services centralised and vulnerable patients forced to travel further for treatment or even to access Accident & Emergency or Minor Injuries Units.
"It’s deeply worrying that Plaid Cymru failed to support our commitment to no hospital closures and no downgrading of services during this Senedd term. Patients deserve certainty that vital services will remain open and close to home when they need them most.
"Welsh Conservatives are committed to protecting the NHS services patients depend on. That’s why we’ve campaigned to protect services at threatened hospitals including at Bronglais and Withybush in West Wales. Plaid Cymru have misled voters and have effectively given the green light for hospital closures and downgrades to services. This is completely unacceptable."
