Mark Drakeford accused of being 'in denial' on NHS

Mark Drakeford said the Welsh NHS reaches "thousands and thousands" of people every day

Mark Drakeford was accused of being in denial about the state of the NHS when opposition leaders rounded on him on Tuesday.

In the Senedd, the first minister was tackled over long ambulance response times, the condition of some NHS buildings and workers' pay.

Despite the pressure it was under, Mr Drakeford said the NHS reached thousands of patients every day.

He said funding had been constrained by Conservative ministers in Westminster.

• Nurses reject one-off payment from Welsh ministers

• Ambulance staff on strike in England and Wales

• Ambulance strike badly disrupted service - bosses

Leaders of the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats challenged Labour's record on health at first minister's questions on Tuesday.

Tory leader Andrew RT Davies asked about a report that revealed only 62% of NHS buildings in north Wales were "operationally safe".

The buildings are owned by the Betsi Cadwaladr health board which spent years under Welsh government control.

At Abergele Hospital, only 15% of the building meets health and safety standards, the report says.

"Why has this situation developed and will you apologise for it?" Mr Davies asked.

Andrew RT Davies wanted an apology for the state of NHS buildings in north Wales

Mr Drakeford said "compliance issues" had been found by surveys on 30-year-old buildings, but that call for repair work "exceeds our ability to fulfil that demand".

Capital funding for the NHS - the money for buildings and infrastructure - was going from £335m this year to £375m next year, Mr Drakeford said.

But he said funding had been squeezed by the UK government and the amount the Welsh government can borrow has been frozen since 2016.

"Where does the member think the money comes from to do the things he suggests," he asked.

On the day he published a five-point plan for the NHS, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price urged the first minister to admit there was an NHS crisis, as Labour has done in Westminster and the Scottish Parliament.

Adam Price said Mr Drakeford had "complete disconnection" from how the NHS was operating on the ground

Mr Price asked why Labour was "prepared to declare the NHS to be in crisis everywhere else apart from here in Wales, where you have responsibility and have done so for over 25 years".

"And I'm afraid that state of denial that we've just heard reflects your complete misunderstanding, your complete disconnection, from what is happening on the ground," he added.

The first minister said that despite all the challenges facing the health service it "manages every single day to reach thousands and thousands of people who, if the health service wasn't there, would never have access to the services that they need".

"If he wants to describe it as a crisis, and thinks that somehow a psychodrama solution is what the health service needs, it's not the view that I take on it," Mr Drakeford said.

Jane Dodds highlighted two-and-a-half years of missed targets for dealing with the most urgent 999 calls

Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds pointed out that the ambulance service had not reached its target for responding to the most serious 999 calls since July 2020.

Mr Drakeford said the service was going through a "slow recovery" from the pandemic.

December was the service's busiest month for life-threatening calls, he said, adding that "when you have a rise in demand of that sort, the percentage of calls that are answered within the target time cannot be sustained".