Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:41 pm on 22 March 2023.
I’ll pick on one word: ‘impossibility’. I do not believe it’s impossible for us in Wales to run public services better than we currently do. I do not think it’s impossible for us to put together a vision and to deliver on that vision in a way that delivers better healthcare than we currently see being delivered here in Wales today, despite all the best efforts of our health and care workers. So, we need to see the ideas and the power behind them to see them through—on Betsi, the idea we need a brave Minister to drive through and to scrap the current health structure, start again. We’re clear on that, and we’re grateful to Mike Hedges for his support on that today. But in so many ways poor decisions have been made. We need better ones, put simply. As I say, taking responsibility for the things that haven’t gone well on this Government’s watch must be the first step to turning things around.
Finally, Llywydd, Mark Polin says that:
‘We are long past the point whereby patients and their families are entitled to expect a public enquiry or some other fundamental, independent review to be conducted.’
The health Minister brushed aside my calls for an inquiry, and again the conclusion many will come to is that this Government is doing all it can to avoid scrutiny. That has to change.