COLUMNIST

FOR many people across Wales the recent Easter weekend provided the opportunity for much-needed time off, a chance to recharge the batteries, and catch up with family and friends.

However, not many of the frontline staff in the Welsh NHS or those working in social care get the pleasure of long weekends at the same time as the rest of the country, yet they work hard at looking after us whenever and wherever we need it.

On behalf of the Welsh Conservatives, I would like to thank all of those who have been hard at work doing a job which is so vital for us all.

And while we look forward to the summer, we must also reflect and assess the pressures the winter has brought on the Welsh NHS. Sadly, the statistics make for harsh reading.

In A&E departments across Wales, 25% of attendances were not seen within the Welsh Government’s target period of four hours, in February.

These were the worst waiting times on record, despite a significant fall in the number of patients presenting at A&E.

Sadly, it’s another sign of a health service under significant pressure, undermined by poor planning and underfunding by the Welsh Labour Government.

There is further bleak reading to be had now that four of Wales’ seven health boards have overspent by a combined total of £163m in the last year alone.

These soaring deficits show a health service in Wales teetering on the brink.

Failures by the Welsh Labour Government to initiate long-term planning measures for health boards and to break the culture of waste and inefficiency have all played their part in our NHS’ financial struggles.

Labour’s Health Secretary has made it clear that there will be no bailouts and, consequently, there is a real risk that hospitals will be forced to cut further services in order to make savings, leaving patients and hardworking staff paying the price.

This is unacceptable and irresponsible behaviour by any government, and we’ve been warning this would happen for the past 18 months.

Yet, time and again, these concerns were batted away by both Labour’s First Minister and Health Secretary who arrogantly predicted these issues would disappear.

And while we all wait with bated breath for Labour’s “new vision” for healthcare provision in Wales, our frontline services continue to be under massive pressure.

There are issues across the NHS in all four parts of the UK but Vaughan Gething has been Health Secretary for close to two years and Labour, in power, in Wales for 19 years.

They seem to have run out of ideas on how to improve, invest and manage our NHS.

Meanwhile, our colleagues in England are implementing new initiatives to seek improvements.

We in Wales must ensure that we keep pace with the changes that are happening across the border.

It is vital we recruit and retain staff in Wales, to provide timely and innovative levels of healthcare to our citizens, ensuring that our staff are working in a National Health Service fit for the future.

Shadow Health Secretary Angela Burns