8. Plaid Cymru Debate: Reducing NHS pressures

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:04 pm on 25 January 2023.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 6:04, 25 January 2023

Unallocated? Well, I think it's not useful to continue that line of enquiry, simply because I haven't read what you've produced and we can have that debate another day.

But the reason why have vacancy levels is—. The fact that we have vacancy levels is serious, but the sole point of interest to me is to explore a bit further the point made by Heledd, which is a hospital in the South Wales Central region has been blocked from appointing to substantive post. That is a serious point and something that is worth unpicking. Now, we have to assume that that's because that health board, wherever it is, is trying not to overspend its budget for this year. We're in month 10 of a 12-month budget process. So, that is a really complex set of difficult circumstances. I appreciate what's going on there, and it must make it really difficult for the hospitals involved—