{"id":925862,"date":"2026-04-29T07:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/925862\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T07:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:47:14","slug":"huge-changes-for-nhs-in-wales-proposed-as-party-leaders-take-part-in-fiery-bbc-debate-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/925862\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge changes for NHS in Wales proposed as party leaders take part in fiery BBC debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The leader of Reform UK in Wales said the country should have just \u201ctwo or three\u201d health boards, as parties clashed over the future of the country\u2019s NHS<\/a>. Speaking on BBC<\/a>\u2019s Your Voice Live on Tuesday, April 28, Dan Thomas criticised the NHS organisation and compared Wales to Manchester.<\/p>\n

The live debate show aired just nine days before the Senedd election on May 7 and featured the leaders of all the main parties. The NHS was a big issue in the debate.<\/p>\n

Mr Thomas said: \u201cThere are seven health boards, trusts, across Wales and that\u2019s too many. There are too many expensive layers of management so we need to reform the top management\u2026Manchester has the same population as Wales and it has one health board. Wales has got seven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Host Bethan Rhys Roberts raised: \u201cThe big problem is in Betsi Cadwaladr, and everyone says it\u2019s too big. And you\u2019d make it bigger then? [You want fewer health boards?]\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to her asking \u201chow many\u201d health boards Wales should have, Mr Thomas told the live audience: \u201cThe geography in Wales is very different to Manchester, I accept that. I think one might be too few. But actually two or three.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would have to work with the health chiefs to talk about the organisation.\u201d For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

Mr Thomas\u2019s comments come just two weeks after he told WalesOnline\u2019s leaders\u2019 debate that Wales didn’t need seven health boards, but did not commit to a number.<\/p>\n

When directly asked by WalesOnline\u2019s political editor Ruth Mosalski if that meant Reform would cut some he said: “We could merge”. You can watch our leaders\u2019 debate, published on April 8, here.<\/a><\/p>\n

His comments on the BBC\u2019s Your Voice Live on Tuesday followed a wider discussion about the NHS, after an audience member asked how each party would save and sustain it.<\/p>\n

One audience member spoke about how her husband had spent 10 hours in A&E.<\/p>\n

Plaid Cymru<\/a>\u2019s Rhun ap Iorwerth criticised Reform\u2019s position, questioning the party\u2019s commitment to the NHS and its funding model.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks volumes, doesn\u2019t it, that the NHS isn’t among the top five priorities of Reform,\u201d he said. “I guess it reflects the fact that they don\u2019t have a plan for the NHS. Their [UK] leader Nigel Farage has made it clear that he doesn\u2019t believe in an NHS funded out of general taxation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThomas\u2019 boss says that he wants to see an insurance based system and that\u2019s the future of the NHS\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Welsh Labour<\/a> leader Eluned Morgan was challenged on her party’s failure to meet waiting time targets. She said she was “not ashamed of the fact that we set stretching targets.<\/p>\n

“<\/b>We could have set targets that are easy to meet. But I think it’s important to test the system.”<\/p>\n

The Greens’ Welsh leader Anthony Slaughter said people were going to A&E who didn’t need to, “but it’s the only option they’ve got”.<\/p>\n

That was “blocking the system”, he said.<\/p>\n

Welsh Tory leader Darren Millar claimed more community hospitals were needed.<\/p>\n

He said: “A third of the beds have been closed over the past 20-odd years. It’s no wonder there’s a beds crisis in the NHS.”<\/p>\n

Welsh Lib Dems<\/a> leader Jane Dodds said she wouldn’t let the NHS “go into Reform UK’s hands because they would not save the NHS”.<\/p>\n

More money was needed for social care she added, “because that helps the front and the back door of our hospitals”.<\/p>\n

The debate also heard about parties potentially working together to govern in the absence of a majority for one. All the other parties ruled out a deal with Reform but they would not reject the idea of working with each other.<\/p>\n

Immigration also came up during the debate and one audience member made an impassioned plea as she talked about the diversity that existed within her family.<\/p>\n

She said she was a quarter-Irish, her husband was half-English and she had two daughters-in-law originating from Spain and Albania.<\/p>\n

“We are all immigrants,” she said. “Can we not all live together?”<\/p>\n

Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The leader of Reform UK in Wales said the country should have just \u201ctwo or three\u201d health boards,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5010],"tags":[19763,748,252192,4884,259318,259317,259316,386,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-925862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wales","tag-audience-member","tag-britain","tag-dan-thomas","tag-great-britain","tag-leaders-debate","tag-mr-thomas","tag-nhs-organisation","tag-reform-uk","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116486894138537056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}