A Pembrokeshire politician put Wales’ First Minister on the spot at the Senedd when asking if she agreed with Cabinet Secretary for Finance Mark Drakeford’s recent comments that the country was “over hospitalised”.

Former Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford who was also once Minister for Health and Social Services, recently remarked on a podcast: “If you're asking me, if I had a blank sheet of paper and could just do the things I think needed to be done, we would have fewer hospitals in Wales. We have too many hospitals and too many beds.”

Paul Davies, the Welsh Conservative Senedd Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire, raised the matter at the Senedd, asking First Minister Eluned Morgan if she agreed with the comments.

Her response was: “Let me just be clear that we are not going to be closing hospitals in Wales. What the finance Secretary was alluding to was, if he had a blank piece of paper, we would not be starting from here. And that is the case.

“I think we're absolutely clear, in terms of our strategic health plan, that we want to see a shift back into communities, we want to see far better use of digital, and we're also all aware that there are around 1,000 people in our hospitals every week who are ready to leave but they can't leave because we need that care in the community.

“So, shifting that into the community makes sense. I'm not going to apologise on his behalf, because I support him because he's right to say that shifting resources into the community is what we should be doing,” she continued.

Not letting the matter rest, Mr Davies continued: “First Minister, you recently appeared on Any Questions? and you gave a stark warning that health bosses will not get extra cash for their services if they do not cut waiting lists.

“You went on to say that there needs to be better management by health boards. But First Minister, you can't pass the buck; your party has been running our Welsh NHS for the last 26 years.

“The reality on the ground, and outlined by the Royal College of Physicians, is that the workforce is burned out and the health bosses are not to blame.

“It's clear that you have failed to bring forward the workforce recruitment and retention plan that our Welsh NHS needs. With staff morale at an all-time low, do you think that it was sensible and rational to once again blame health boards, while making the situation even worse by threatening to make real-term cuts to public services?

Mr Davies continued: “As per usual, there's zero accountability from this First Minister and this Welsh Government, who, quite frankly, should be ashamed of their record on the NHS.

“And let me remind the Senedd and the First Minister that, last month, Wales' latest health statistics were released, and they were truly shocking.

“Welsh NHS waiting lists haven't just hit record highs, they've now hit record highs for 10 consecutive months!”