Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 24 January 2023.
First Minister, it is important that all of us here in Senedd Cymru, the Welsh Parliament, are candid about the real challenges facing our beloved national health service right across the four nations of the United Kingdom. In England, in December, calls from people with life-threatening illness or injuries saw an ambulance response time of 10 minutes and 57 seconds. In Wales, in December, the average response time was 10 minutes, where previously the average, over the four years up to that month, was six minutes. So, two neighbouring countries with almost identical ambulance response times in December for the most urgent calls. Yet, there is one fundamental difference between Wales and England: Wales is led by the Labour Party, which created the national health service and will do all that it can to forever ensure that it continues to be free at the point of care for those who call on its services, whilst in England, the Tory UK Government and ex-English health secretary Sajid Javid are openly theorising about introducing changes and charges to even see a GP—privatisation through the front door. First Minister, what assurances, then, can you give the people of Islwyn and Wales that our NHS will be prioritised in Wales as a truly national, free public health service that lives up to its illustrious legacy, is fit for purpose and offers peace of mind that, when 999 is called, an ambulance will promptly arrive?