Plaid Cymru promises £590m cash boost for NHS

Plaid Cymru said protecting local services would be a priority for the party in government

The Welsh NHS budget would be increased by almost £600m a year by 2021, Plaid Cymru has said, after similar pledges by the Conservatives and Lib Dems.

Wales will get additional funding as a result of a UK government commitment to spend an additional £8bn a year on the health service in England.

Plaid Cymru said it would ring fence the cash - which it calculates to be worth £590m by 2020-21 - for the NHS.

Welsh Labour ministers accused Plaid of spending money that does not exist.

The budget for the Welsh government's health and social services department is currently about £6.5bn a year.

The Welsh Conservatives said it had already committed to spend the money on the NHS in Wales.

A Tory spokesman added that Plaid's figures were wrong and that Wales was in line for an additional £463m.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats said it had promised to match higher health spending in England at the general election.

Elin Jones said the Welsh NHS is 'crying out' for extra funding to improve standards

Plaid Cymru health spokeswoman Elin Jones said: "Plaid Cymru is absolutely committed to protecting and reviving our vital public services.

"By ringfencing this money, we would be able to prioritise training and recruiting 1,000 extra doctors in Wales, protecting local services and integrating health and social care so that care for our elderly and vulnerable is planned seamlessly and with dignity and so that we can bring down waiting times."

A spokesman for Health Minister Mark Drakeford said: "This is fantasy politics from Plaid Cymru and they're spending money that does not exist.

"There is no indication of if, or when, this £590m could come to Wales.

"We won't know anything until the Comprehensive Spending Review is published in November."

Analysis by Daniel Davies, BBC Wales political correspondent

Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of multi-party politics in the age of devolution.

Plaid Cymru says cuts in Westminster by the Conservatives have damaged Welsh public services.

Now it says a pledge by David Cameron to spend more on the English NHS could help repair some of that damage.

What's more, Plaid attacks Labour for failing to ring-fence the Welsh NHS budget - in other words, protect the NHS from cuts by ensuring spending rises in line with inflation.

A Labour minister suggests Plaid shares responsibility for that decision - a decision taken in 2010 by a Labour-Plaid coalition.

To be clear, there is no £590m pot of money waiting to be spent on doctors and nurses. That figure is what Plaid estimates Wales will get by 2020 as a result of extra health spending in England.

However, cuts to other departments could mean the eventual figure is much smaller.

We'll have to wait until George Osborne's spending review in November to find out what the Welsh government's budget will look like in future.

But whatever Mr Osborne says, all parties contesting next year's assembly election want to force their opponents on to the defensive over funding for the NHS.