Mark Drakeford questioned on ‘too many beds’ comment in the Senedd

Meg Davies

Finance Minister Mark Drakeford defended his recent comments that Wales has ‘too many hospitals and too many beds’ in the Senedd yesterday.

The former Labour first minister, Mark Drakeford, was quizzed by Conservative MS Sam Rowlands on the comments, and on his stance on health spending as Finance Minister.

Mr Rowlands asked if Mr Drakeford's comments were indicative of the direction of travel of Labour’s finance plans.

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Draft budget

Sam Rowlands MS said: “Last week, Cabinet Secretary, you recently shared that you believe that Wales has too many hospitals and too many beds.”

“As the person responsible for the finances of the Government here in Wales, is that, therefore, an indication of the direction of travel that you’re going to persuade your colleagues to go down, to spend less money on hospitals and less money on beds here in Wales?” he asked.

Mr Drakeford responded that the answer is “very obvious in the draft budget”.

He said: “The department in the Welsh Government that gets the largest increase of any is, of course, as you would expect from a Labour Government, the health service.”

“In the latest figures – figures published by a Conservative UK Government – Welsh health spending was higher than in England, grew faster than in England, and spending on social services in Wales was 37 per cent higher than in England. The facts speak for themselves."

“Here in Wales, we have always placed the highest priority on investment in our health and social care system.”

He added: “That is continued in the draft budget that will be before the Senedd for final determination on 4 March.”

'Over-hospitalised'

The Senedd discussion comes after Mark Drakeford told the For Wales, See Wales podcast: "If I had a blank sheet of paper and could just do the things I think needed to be done…we would have fewer hospitals in Wales. We have too many hospitals and too many beds."

"Secondary care, as it's called, the hospital sector, sucks the resources in the health service, and yet nine out of 10 contacts between the individual and the health service happens in primary care, in your GP surgery”, he said.

He added: "The money is sucked into the hospital sector because it's so expensive to run. So, the first thing I would say is we are over-hospitalised in Wales.”

Ongoing debate

Mr Drakeford's comments follow a recent debate about hospital beds in the Senedd, with Welsh Conservatives criticising the Welsh Labour Government for allowing a reduction in the number of NHS beds in Wales.

Conservative leader Darren Millar said: "Since 2010, the number of beds in the Welsh NHS has fallen by over 20%. You’ve promised since then to build more hospitals with more beds, but you haven’t delivered. In recent years, the number of beds in the Welsh NHS has been completely static.”

FM Eluned Morgan explained that the number of beds is "not the key issue", and that social care and hospital flow should be prioritised instead.