6. Debate: Draft Budget 2022-23

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:24 pm on 8 February 2022.

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Photo of Gareth Davies Gareth Davies Conservative 6:24, 8 February 2022

Diolch, Llywydd. It was more of a speech, I think, than an intervention.

But this is the private sector that makes up 80 per cent. It's not just a tiny little drop in the ocean; it is the ocean. Shortages in the care sector are having a debilitating impact on our NHS. As the Minister herself pointed out, we have around 1,000 medically fit people in our hospital beds unable to be discharged because of the lack of social care. But this budget's put additional pressures on an already creaking NHS. On the surface of it, it looks like the budget for the NHS is a generous one, but, like everything in this Government, and what's been mentioned a few times in this debate, the devil lies in the detail.

The NHS recovery fund is unlikely to make a dent in the vast black hole. Health boards continue to massively overspend, and we have some of the worst waiting times in the UK. More than half of Welsh patients are waiting more than 26 weeks to start treatment. These are not just numbers on a balance sheet; they are people's lives: hundreds of thousands of people suffering due to delays, thousands of patients dying because of delays. Where are the radical proposals to tackle the ongoing crisis in health and care? They don't appear to be on the Welsh Government's radar. No COVID-lite regional surgical hubs. Instead, we have a cut to the capital budget, which has worried NHS leaders, as they will now be unable to provide up-to-date equipment or premises to treat patients. What we have is a draft budget that fails to deliver for health and care, and fails for Welsh citizens and patients, and I urge Members to support our amendment and reject this budget.