Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 10 December 2019.
Llywydd, this Government invests record amounts of money in our health services. The rise in investment in the health service in Wales last year was faster than in any other part of the United Kingdom. In return, we expect our health boards to manage that money with the best possible result, because that is the result that Welsh patients expect. And while the NHS in Wales is in our hands, then patients in Wales know that, here, they go on having free prescriptions, here, we have nurse bursaries. We don't need, as his party does—they put in their manifesto that they're going to restore something that they were responsible for cutting. Here, we never cut it at all. Here, patients have free parking in their hospitals. We don't need to put it in our manifesto here, because Welsh patients already have that.
Welsh patients understand, Llywydd. Welsh patients in north Wales understand—Welsh patients in north Wales understand that this Labour Government invests in providing them with a service of the sort that they recognise. Satisfaction rates in the north Wales NHS went up last year in both primary and secondary care. The leader of Plaid Cymru thinks that he's clever to shout at me about his question. What his question does is what he does as he trails around the television studios, which is to run down Wales. His party, the party of parts of Wales, those parts that they think it's worth putting up candidates to vote for them—his partial response in that area is typical of his response altogether. The Welsh NHS is safe in the hands of the Labour Party, recognised by patients across Wales, in north Wales, and in every part of Wales.