Eluned Morgan accused of being 'complacent' over NHS pressures
The First Minister has been accused of being “complacent” when it comes to dealing with pressures facing the NHS but she insists that its problems are being dealt with.
Eluned Morgan faced criticism from opposition parties in the first Senedd session of 2025 and it was similar criticism to that which she faced in 2024.
She was tackled by the new Conservative leader, Darren Millar, about long ambulance waiting times and pressure on emergency departments.
When she said that a large increase in funding announced before Christmas was bringing improvements, Mr Millar said, "Forgive me, First Minister, but you sound pretty complacent to me about these issues. Simply throwing money at the problem isn't going to solve it.
“We all know that when you talk about the issues with patient flow, much of this has been created the problem in our National Health Service by you and your predecessors.
“Since 2010 the number of beds in the Welsh NHS has fallen by over 20%. You have promised since then to build more hospitals with more beds, but you have not delivered.”
He went on to say, “So do you agree with me and Rob Perry who is the vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, who says we need extra beds in our national health service?
“And do you also accept that you need to pull your finger out and deliver on these extra beds and the extra hospitals which you have promised and have failed to deliver?”
In response, Eluned Morgan said that “Well, you obviously don't understand the issue. If you think it's all about beds, you haven't understood that actually, there's a lot of people in beds who shouldn't be there. It's about flow. It's about flow.
“It's about making sure that we have that additional funding that now we have, after 14 years of austerity, to put into the NHS and some of those beds, the surge capacity is being used… and we've got more beds per head of population than they have in England.”
She added that “This is a complex area. It's not an area that has an easy solution, but I can tell you that the Welsh Government is absolutely focused on this issue.”
Plaid Cymru’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said that her record, both as First Minister and previously Health Minister, “is frankly indefensible.”
“As health minister, she promised that nobody would be waiting longer than 12 months for treatment in most specialities by the spring of this year. Now it's that no more than 8000 will be waiting over two years by April, based on December’s numbers, even those figures are going in the wrong direction, and this is the first minister failing on her number one priority.
“Now with the promise to eradicate 12 month waiting times seemingly consigned to Labour's growing missed targets filing cabinet, will the First Minister confirm whether or not she stands by the two year wait promise?”
Eluned Morgan said in response that “what we've seen is a 66% reduction in two-year waits since March 2022 I think that is something worth drawing attention to.
“And it probably is worth reminding people about the pressure on the NHS. Just to give you a sense of how much work they're doing, in November, there were 2.1 million calls to GP practices and 1.6 million appointments offered in a population of 3 million people.”
She added, “We have got to keep focused on, in particular, those people who've been waiting a long time in pain, and that's where the absolute focus is.”
Analysis by Political Editor, Adrian Masters.
There’s not a great deal of New Year cheer for Eluned Morgan.
With less than eighteen months to go until the next Senedd Election, there is intense pressure on her and Welsh Labour.
The most recent poll for ITV Wales and Cardiff University put Plaid Cymru in pole position for the election with Labour and Reform UK tying for second place.
That poll and other indications have been seized on by the former minister Lee Waters who wrote on his blog that “The international trends are clear. All incumbents are having a kicking. It will take something different for us to avoid that fate.”
He goes on to write of his concern that Welsh Labour could be heading for just such a kicking by focussing on ‘managing the model’ of devolution rather than championing radical change.
That’s for the medium term. Much more immediately pressing is the need for Eluned Morgan to gain enough support in the Senedd to pass her budget.
Labour doesn’t have a majority in the chamber and will need the votes, or abstentions, of at least one other MS.
Plaid Cymru’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has reiterated today that “as things stand” his party is unlikely to back Labour’s budget but he also said that there have been no negotiations yet.
Labour’s other option is to win the backing of Jane Dodds, the sole Liberal Democrat MS. I understand that while there have been some tentative discussions, the feeling from the wider Lib Dem party is against doing a deal unless it involves a significant offer.
Eluned Morgan knew she had a difficult job on her hands when she took on the role of Welsh Labour leader and First Minister. The dawning of 2025 has only proven her right.
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