Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that the UK Government will be investing £4.5 billion to provide 50 million more appointments in GP surgeries in England.
Because of this increase in spending, the Welsh Labour Government will get an additional £100 million over the next four years, which the Welsh Conservatives believe should be spent on our Welsh NHS.
But it is up to Welsh Labour how it is spent in Wales.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Angela Burns AM has welcomed the UK Government’s announcement of an extra £100 million which could be for GP medical services in Wales.
In the announcement the £100m will provide improved services to residents in Wales that have suffered 20 years of a Welsh Labour Government’s mismanagement of our health services.
Commenting on the announcement, Shadow Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Angela Burns AM, said:
“Time after time, residents in my constituency – and those of my fellow Conservative AMs, and no doubt other parties – contact me almost in tears about the poor service they receive as patients under this failing Welsh Labour Government.
“So ashamed has Welsh Labour been of its failings with all aspects of healthcare, that in 2011 the Labour-run Welsh NHS scrapped the GP waiting time target to avoid scrutiny. This £100m of new funding could bring long-needed improvements to benefit Wales.
Ms Burns said that £100m – which will be spread over four years – could fund 125 extra GPs with training, 250 nurses with training, 100 physiotherapists, and 100 pharmacists which the Welsh Conservatives would commit to if they formed the next Welsh Government in 2021.
Paul Davies AM, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said:
“For 20 years Welsh Labour have been running our Welsh NHS, people here in Wales have for too long been left waiting days or even weeks to make an appointment with their GP, left waiting for physio appointments and left waiting for nursing services.
“We know that our talented and hard-working nurses, GPs, doctors, pharmacists, and all other medical staff in Wales are among the best in the world, but they – like all people living in Wales – have been let down by Labour, because this moribund mismanaging Welsh Labour government cannot be trusted to deliver a functioning Welsh NHS.”
