Plaid Cymru has slammed 25 years of Labour leadership and pledged a Plaid Cymru government would “break the cycle of short-term thinking which shortchanges Wales”.
Ahead of the party’s annual conference taking place in Cardiff, Rhun ap Iorwerth has set out his Party’s plans to “launch a new approach to preventative health” including appointing a Minister for Public Health.
He said: “For too long, Labour’s priority has been managing people’s pain but I want to keep people healthy and I can announce that in the first 100 days of a Plaid Cymru government we will bring forward a new budget – based on the principles of a healthier, wealthier Wales – with a promise that spending on preventative health measures will increase every year.”
The next Senedd election is just 18 months away and the Party is still reeling from gaining two extra MPs at the July General Election.
Plaid Cymru hope the momentum will stick and continue into the Welsh Parliament election in 2026.
Waiting lists in Wales will no doubt dominate the 2026 Senedd election. For the last five months NHS waiting lists in Wales have continued to reach a record high.
Last month, the Welsh and UK governments announced a new partnership in a bid to cut NHS waiting lists in England and Wales. But Rhun ap Iorwerth says plans don’t stack up.
“This year, as waiting lists grew – Labour for some inexplicable reason cut the amount it spends on preventative health policies,” he said.
“This is short-term thinking with long term pain guaranteed. It feeds the problem as opposed to solving it, putting further pressure on front line staff, filling our hospitals with ever sicker patients.”
Ap Iorwerth has outlined plans to clear the emergency maintenance backlogs across Welsh hospitals by 2030.
“We’ll introduce a target focused cancer contract for every patient and reform the governance of the NHS, bringing standards back where they should be and waiting lists down. And with a new Minister for Public Health, we’ll put the ‘N’ back in the NHS – ensuring a truly national mission of creating healthier lives which in turn deliver substantial savings.”
Just yesterday, a critical incident was declared at the Princess of Wales hospital after the discovery of serious long-term damage to its roof.
The Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies, says “the solution to the crisis in the Welsh NHS is not more of the same from Plaid Cymru”.
He added: “The nationalists have propped Labour Welsh governments up in various shapes and forms for 25 years and is culpable for the ever-rising longest NHS waiting lists in the whole UK.
“Plaid’s big idea is to create yet another failed minister.
“The Welsh Conservatives have a substantial workforce plan that prioritises more doctors and nurses over Labour and Plaid’s creation of 36 more politicians.”
