6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Minister for Health and Social Services

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:53 pm on 22 March 2023.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Samuel Kurtz Samuel Kurtz Conservative 4:53, 22 March 2023

I'm grateful to the Member for intervening. I can imagine that the autumn budget released extra, additional funding for both education and the health service, by the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, last October. But we are here to debate health services here in Wales. We are elected by the people here in Wales to sit in a Welsh Parliament.

I recently spoke—[Interruption.] Well, I'm very happy to join that meeting that you and Russell George will be having, Alun Davies.

Moving on, I recently spoke to a dentist who is a member of the Dyfed-Powys local dental committee. He told me that NHS dentists are facing large financial penalties if they fail to meet unevidenced and unachievable contract reform targets, which he described as a cliff-edge for NHS dentistry in Wales. A further quote from the Dyfed-Powys local dental committee reads: 'To be quite honest, Eluned Morgan's comments in January, showing a total lack of understanding of the situation, and her unwillingness to listen, has been the final straw for many of my colleagues, who will now vote with their feet and move to practise only in the private sector.'

Llywydd, I will close my contribution in the same vein in which I opened it. Russell George is a Member, politically, that I look up to immensely. Indeed, he was the first Member that came into my office after I was elected to ask for my advice on something, which filled me with great strength, and I'm very grateful to Russell for that. As a proud Welshman and a proud Brit, nothing would give me more pride than to look across Offa's Dyke and to think, 'Here in Wales, we have the very best NHS.' Unfortunately, at the moment, I can't say we can do that. Diolch, Llywydd.