Labour must declare a health emergency and set out a clear timescale to de-escalate intervention arrangements in every Health Board, Plaid Cymru has said.

Peredur Owen Griffiths, Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales East, has backed his party’s calls for the Welsh Government to set a clear direction to tackle the escalation status of all of Wales’ health boards.

Plaid Cymru will today (Wednesday 7 February) lead a debate on the crisis facing the whole of NHS Wales.

The debate comes one year after the Labour Government set out its priorities for the NHS in Wales. In the 12 months that have followed, patients waiting for treatment have increased by tens of thousands, more are waiting over 62 days to begin cancer treatment and the number of GPs in Wales is declining.

After announcing in late 2023 that all health board were put into some form of intervention status, three health boards out of seven have recently been subject to further escalation status.

Peredur said leadership and a clear course of direction was now needed in the Welsh NHS for the sake of beleaguered patients and burnt out staff.

“There is no doubt that the NHS under Labour is in dire straits,” said Peredur.

 “This is despite the huge efforts of an increasingly stressed and exhausted work force. It is unacceptable that more than half of patients wait more than two months to begin treatment for cancer, more people are waiting longer than four hours to be seen in A&E and the number of GPs is rapidly declining.

 “To make matters worse, every single health board in Wales is in some form of intervention status.

 “It is quite remarkable that £14 million was recently announced for The Grange Hospital to improve patient safety. This is for a hospital which only opened in 2020 and is meant to be a flagship facility in the Welsh NHS.

 “After a quarter of a century running the NHS in Wales, Labour is out of ideas and out of energy to provide the solutions and ideas needed to turn things around.  

“This is why we have urged Labour to admit that health services across Wales are in crisis by declaring a health emergency and set out a clear timescale to de-escalate intervention arrangements in every Health Board.

“We need leadership, strategy and clarity rather than chucking money at a problem hoping it will go away.”

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