PLAID’S PLEDGE FOR WELSH NHS
PLAID Cymru yesterday said it would recruit 500 GPs and restore junior doctor pay levels if it won power in Wales.
The pledges came during the final day of the party’s two-day spring conference in Caernarfon.
In a speech to the conference, the party’s spokesperson for health and care – Mabon ap Gwynfor MS – pointed to what he described as the Labour Welsh Government’s failure to tackle long NHS waiting lists, and detailed Plaid plans that included:
Retention and training programme to recruit 500 more GPs over a two-term period;
Restore general practice budget to 8.7% of the NHS spend;
Ensure carers in Wales are paid at least £1 an hour above the real living wage;
Restoring pay doctors; and
Creating contracts “with the hours and flexibility that nurses need”.
His comments come on the eve of the latest wave of junior doctors’ strikes in Wales.
The 96-hour strike – the third walkout this year – will see just under 4,000 doctors take industrial action, with appointments at hospitals and GPs set to be postponed across the country.
The strike will start at 7am tomorrow and last until 7am on Friday.
In a separate development, latest figures last week revealed 586,500 individual patients are on treatment waiting lists in Wales.
Meanwhile, Mr ap Gwynfor pointed to a link between poverty and poor health, as he claimed the levels for junior
Welsh Government’s failure to tackle child poverty is shoring up future demand on the nation’s health service, and that steps need to be taken now to “give our children a better chance at playing a full part in society and live their lives with dignity.”
He added: “If we really want to tackle the health crisis, then we really need to tackle poverty. The stark facts are that if you live in a more deprived community in Wales, you are more likely to get cancer and more likely to die from cancer. One in 5 of all hospital visits due to respiratory illness are as a result of poor, damp housing. And study after study have demonstrated the link between poverty and diabetes.
“The fact that a third of our children are living in poverty today – a damning indictment on this government’s dreadful record in government – means that we know that the health crisis is chronic and is here for at least another generation, unless urgent steps are taken to turn this around.
“The response from Labour in Wales has been to blame individuals and tell them to take more personal responsibility, whilst simultaneously denying there’s a crisis in our health service, cutting funds for preventative programmes and restricting the budget for local authorities who fund many of the leisure centres and healthy living activities.
“A Plaid Cymru government would acknowledge that the problems in our health service run deep and we would take immediate action to address the problems in primary care by funding more doctors. We’d also listen to the demands of the striking workforce by restoring the pay levels of junior doctors, and giving nurses the flexibility they need in their NHS contracts.
“We’d also address the issues at the point that patients need to leave the health service, by properly paying our carers. Plaid Cymru’s message to our carers is that if you care for our loved ones, then a Plaid Cymru government will care for you. We would ensure carers in Wales are paid at least £1 an hour above the real living wage ”
On Friday, in his keynote speech to the conference, party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said electing more Plaid Cymru MPs at the UK general election would keep the Tories out and send a message to Labour that it cannot take Wales for granted.