Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth has called out Labour’s Health Minister Vaughan Gething and asked Welsh Labour to ‘own up to their failings’.
The row over forcing patients in Burry Port to travel outside of the area to see their GP has escalated as Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Rhun ap Iorwerth challenged the Labour Cabinet Secretary for Health on Labour’s failure to properly plan the health workforce.
Rhun ap Iorwerth called out Labour politicians who had been protesting against the closure locally when Labour is responsible for the failure to provide adequate GP cover in the town.
Rhun ap Iorwerth called out Labour politicians who had been protesting against the closure locally when Labour is responsible for the failure to provide adequate GP cover in the town.
Challenging the Labour Cabinet Secretary, Rhun ap Iorwerth said:
“Another area where we have staff shortages is amongst GPs. It’s a Wales-wide problem and is one of the reasons to support Plaid Cymru’s campaign to train and recruit a thousand extra doctors.
“Patients in Burry Port are the latest to hear that they have to leave their area to see a GP due to the closure of a surgery.
“I do understand that local Labour politicians have been protesting against this.
“Will you be joining them in their protest as I seem to recall a former Education Minister doing the same against the closure of a school in his constituency, or will you own up to the fact that it is Welsh Labour’s failings in workforce planning that has led to this shortage of GPs?”
Plaid Cymru Llanelli candidate Mari Arthur said:
“People in Burry Port and across Llanelli deserve a strong and sustainable health service, but Labour’s mismanagement of the service means that people are not being given the service they deserve. Plaid Cymru’s plan to train and recruit a thousand extra doctors to drive up numbers and give patients the service they deserve wherever they live.
“We know the Conservatives want to privatise the health service. Labour has run it down. Only Plaid Cymru can be trusted to look after the NHS in Wales.”
