Welsh Conservatives today revealed a string of revelations in correspondence between NHS officials and consultants McKinsey in documents the Welsh Government refused to publish.
Emails revealed that NHS executives met McKinsey in the Hilton Hotel to discuss proposed efficiency savings, including cutting the number of hospital beds, cutting the number of nurses by 1,200, cutting training places and leaving NHS vacancies unfilled.
In the Assembly Chamber this afternoon, the First Minister failed to rule out the proposed NHS cuts.
Andrew RT Davies AM (pictured), Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the National Assembly, appealed to the Information Commissioner, who ruled against the Government to force disclosure of the McKinsey correspondence.
Another paper cited NHS Directors, who stated that LHBs cannot “state the extent of the financial challenges they face or the extent of the cuts necessary… without receiving an unfavourable response from the centre.”
Andrew RT Davies said, “It is now clear why Ministers were so desperate to prevent the publication of correspondence between NHS officials and the Welsh Government’s commissioned consultants McKinsey about Labour’s NHS cuts.
“We already know that Labour is cutting the NHS by £1billion, but these papers reveal proposed efficiency savings such as cutting 1,200 nurses, closing beds and wards, cutting training places and leaving NHS vacancies unfilled.
“The disclosure of these papers passes a damning verdict on the management of the previous Health Minister, who failed to listen to LHB concerns about the impact of funding cuts on the patient care.
“It is extraordinary that top NHS executives should meet in a lavish city centre hotel to discuss some of the most swingeing cuts to Welsh NHS services.
“After months of trying to cover up deliberations over ‘efficiency savings’, Ministers now need to come clean about the impact of Labour’s NHS cuts, which would have a devastating impact on levels of patient care.”
