Kirsty Williams
Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, has responded to today’s Nuffield Trust Report: ‘A decade of Austerity in Wales?’ calling it a “wake up call for Wales”.
The report, commissioned by the Welsh Government, found that “growing pressures on the NHS in Wales means it could face an unprecedented funding gap of £2.5bn by 2025.” It went on to say that “to close the gap without additional funding, the Welsh NHS would have to improve productivity at a record rate and sustain this for a period not seen in history of the NHS or other countries health systems.”
Commenting, Kirsty Williams said:
“This report should be a real wake up call for managers and all politicians in charge of our NHS. An aging population and increase in chronic problems will cause an unprecedented increase in the pressure on our NHS. We must improve issues like long lengths of stay in hospital and long waits for diagnostic tests to help alleviate this pressure.
“We spend more on health per head of population than any other part of the UK, yet we get poorer outcomes for patients. The Welsh Labour Government needs to get much more for taxpayers’ money. I hope this report starts Welsh Labour Ministers thinking about how we can provide a world class health service with the finite resources we have available.”
