Welsh Labour is today celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of its greatest ever achievement – the establishment of the National Health Service, with a promise of continuing support and investment. 

The NHS was established against a backdrop of fierce Conservative opposition by Clem Attlee’s Post-World War Two government, elected in the Labour landslide of 1945. It was the brainchild of Nye Bevan, the Health Minister and MP for Ebbw Vale. 

The principle behind the NHS was that the best health care should be free at the point of need. Since 1999, Welsh Labour has built on the foundations laid down by Nye Bevan for the NHS with unprecedented levels of investment in an institution that is very much the envy of the world and the key to the modern welfare state. 

Welsh Labour’s First Minister RHODRI MORGAN said:  

“As the First Minister and the Leader of the Labour Party in Wales, I am naturally extremely proud that the NHS was established by a Welsh Labour MP, Aneurin Bevan, and that as a party, we have the strongest record for investing in and expanding our NHS.    

“The Tories voted against the creation of the NHS, and have never been, and will never be committed to investing in and developing the NHS for the benefit of the many, despite David Cameron’s recent superficial conversion. Their dismal record during their eighteen years in power, with unacceptably high waiting times, crumbling hospitals, low staff morale and cuts in services is proof of what the Tories really think of the NHS.  

“The people of Wales know, that with Welsh Labour in charge of it, the NHS will face the challenge of the next decade and beyond by establishing a new compact with the citizen in which the promotion of good health will rise in importance side by side with the treatment of ill health. In the future, the ‘walk and the fork’ will become as important as the scalpel and the stethoscope.  

Welsh Labour's Health and Social Services Minister EDWINA HART said:

“Welsh Labour is the party of the NHS. We are the party that founded the NHS, the party that has always invested in the NHS, and a party that will always support our NHS.   

“I’m extremely proud that Welsh Labour has extended the founding principle of the NHS, that health services should be free at the point of need with the introduction of free prescriptions in 2007, and this year, with free car parking for patients and visitors in Welsh hospitals.  

Since the Assembly was established in 1999, investment in the NHS in Wales has increased dramatically, rising from £2.7bn in 1999/00, to £5.7 billion in 2008/09, and will rise to over £6bn in 2011/12. 

Edwina Hart added: “The investment in the NHS by Welsh Labour means that by the end of this Assembly term, spending in our NHS will almost equal the entire Assembly budget at the onset of devolution in 1999.    

“The £100million investment package in new buildings and equipment that I announced earlier this week, as well as the announcement I made this week that a further £8 million will be invested over the next three years to further improve palliative care across Wales, clearly demonstrates our commitment to investing in and supporting our NHS, so that we ensure improved services for patients, and better working conditions for NHS staff. 

Since 1999, Welsh Labour has: 

• Slashed waiting times for hospital treatment;
• Introduced the greatest single measure to improve health in Wales, when in April 2007, smoking in public places was banned;
• Abolished all prescription charges;
• Doubled the intake of medical students into our medical schools
• Given the go-ahead for seven new hospitals that have either been built or are on the way;
• Recruited over 8,000 more nurses and over 500 more consultants for the NHS in Wales;
• Opened a North Wales Clinical School, helping to train staff and improve healthcare in the region.
• Introduced new rules so that that all NHS Trusts in Wales have to appoint a senior manager to be responsible for cleaning and tackling hospital-acquired infections, with the number of hospital acquired infections falling and Welsh hospitals having the best record in the UK in suppressing hospital bugs such as MRSA.