Former First Minister Mark Drakeford has sparked controversy by suggesting Wales has “too many hospitals and too many beds” during his appearance on the “For Wales, See Wales” podcast.
Drakeford stated: “If you’re asking me, if I had a blank sheet of paper and could just do the things I think needed to be done, we would have fewer hospitals in Wales. We have too many hospitals and too many beds.”
He emphasised that while 90% of NHS interactions occur in GP surgeries, hospital care consumes a disproportionate amount of resources: “Secondary care, as it’s called, the hospital sector, sucks the resources in the health service, and yet nine out of 10 contacts between the individual and the health service happens in primary care.”
Current First Minister Eluned Morgan appeared to contradict this stance, telling the Senedd: “We’d have loved to have built a few more hospitals, but we were given a £1 million increase when it came to capital when your government was in power.”
Welsh Conservative shadow health secretary James Evans responded: “Our NHS is bogged down by excessive bureaucracy and bloated management. It’s time for fundamental reform to prioritise patient care and fix our NHS.”
