Tomorrow at the ballot box, Welsh Conservatives will offer the people of Wales a pledge to reverse Labour’s £1billion cuts to the Welsh National Health Service.
Welsh Conservatives are the only party committed to protecting the NHS budget and increasing it in line with inflation for the next four years.
Speaking outside the Royal Gwent Hospital, Nick Bourne, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the National Assembly, outlined how protecting the health budget would enable a Welsh Conservative Assembly Government to invest in NHS staff, cancer services and improving patient care.
Welsh Conservatives have pledged to establish a £10million Cancer Drugs Fund to pay for cancer medicines, many of which are readily available to patients in England but denied to patients in Wales.
The Party would also be able to protect the number of nurses, increase investment in ambulances to improve response times and in hospices to address Wales’ chronic under-funding.
Nick Bourne said, “Who would’ve thought that a Labour Government would cut funding to our National Health Service.
“Labour, backed by Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems, plan to cut Wales’ health budget by £1billion, at a time when patients are waiting longer for treatment.
“Welsh Conservatives are the only party committed to protecting Wales’ NHS budget and increasing it in line with inflation.
“By protecting the NHS budget, we can commit to protect the number of nurses, address staff recruitment and retention problems and invest in CCTV to improve safety for NHS workers.
“We would tackle inequalities in access to cancer medicines by establishing a £10million Cancer Drugs Fund so Welsh patients can access medicines already available to patients in England.
“Throughout this campaign people across Wales have been telling me that despite these challenging economic times, we need to maintain and improve the delivery of health services for patients.
“By protecting the NHS budget we can invest in rapid response vehicles to improve ambulance response times, improve palliative care in our hospices and invest in new treatments and facilities for patients.
“In this election, voters have a clear choice between Labour’s NHS cuts or a protected NHS budget with the Welsh Conservatives.”
