Welsh NHS needs reform, Keir Starmer says

The NHS in Wales “desperately” needs reform, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Asked if Welsh Labour had run the health service well, he said “there are challenges… I’m not going to pretend to you otherwise”.

His comments came on the day that waiting lists hit a record high in Wales for the sixth month in a row.

Sir Keir has described the NHS in England as “broken”, but refused to say the same about Wales, despite some waiting times being worse.

The Welsh Conservatives said Sir Keir's comments were not credible while Plaid Cymru said they were "deeply embarrassing" for Labour.

Cutting waiting times has been named as a top priority by new First Minister Eluned Morgan.

Earlier this week she said reform was necessary, “but it’s difficult to do that when you've got long waiting lists that have to be our priority at the moment”.

In a BBC Wales interview ahead of the Labour conference, the prime minister said he and Morgan had discussed the state of the health service.

"I think what we need to do is to roll up our sleeves, collaborate, share best practice and bring about not just the investment but the reform that is desperately needed across the delivery of health, whether that’s in Wales or elsewhere,” he said.

Wales’ health service has been overseen by Labour-led governments since devolution in 1999.

Sir Keir was asked if his party’s Welsh government had done a good job with the NHS during a quarter century in power.

But he simply said: “There are challenges that need to be met, there’s no doubt about that and I’m not going to pretend to you otherwise.

“My job with the first minister is to work together to rise to whatever challenges there are and opportunities across Wales and I’m determined to do so.”

'Their London boss disagrees'

Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said: "Waiting lists in the Welsh NHS, run by Labour for the past 25 years, are far longer than in England.

"Given that Sir Keir has repeatedly claimed the English NHS is 'broken', this stance is simply not credible."

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said: "This is deeply embarrassing for Labour in Wales."

He added: "The NHS in Wales needs reform, and tinkering at the edges won’t fix it. We need to invest properly in the preventative agenda to keep people out of hospital, tackle the deep-rooted issues of staff retention, harness technological innovations to bring care closer to home, and modernise the NHS estate."

Analysis

By Gareth Lewis, BBC Wales political editor

Keir Starmer had no qualms about describing the NHS in England as "broken" and pointed the finger at previous Conservative governments.

It’s telling that he wouldn’t point quite the same finger at Welsh Labour colleagues who’ve been running the NHS for 25 years, declining three chances to use the same word.

That’s politics - and in politics the choice of words is important.

Although I’m told the relationship between the two governments behind the scenes has improved immeasurably, when he was asked straight if Welsh ministers were doing a good job, he could have said "yes".

He declined that opportunity too.