By Sarah Atherton

MP for Wrexham

Last week, we celebrated International Nurses Day. As a former nurse who trained at the Maelor Hospital in 1990, I know how hard healthcare staff work and the extent to which nurses go above and beyond for patients, day in and day out. To our nurses: thank you for all the selfless work that you do and for the lasting difference you make to people’s lives.

Yet, against this backdrop of appreciation, it is saddening to witness the toll that Welsh Labour’s management of health services has taken on our hardworking healthcare professionals. They deserve more than mere gratitude; they deserve tangible improvements, long-term solutions, and genuine support from the Welsh Government.

Let’s examine the stark realities:

• Welsh NHS patients are enduring the worst A&E waits across Great Britain

• Over 24,000 people are facing two-year waits for treatment in Wales

• Ambulance response times have reached life-threatening levels

In light of this dire state of affairs, my constituents are understandably asking me what intervention the UK Government can offer, in addition to the £18 billion block grant that it provides each year to Wales, in order to improve these healthcare outcomes. This is why, in collaboration with Conservative North Wales MPs, we raised our concerns to the Secretary of State for Health, Victoria Atkins MP. Our aim is clear: to urge for a public inquiry to be launched; for the restoration of UK-wide healthcare audit, inspection, and investigatory mechanisms; and for patients in North Wales to be given the right of access to NHS services in England.

Once I receive an update on this, I will update residents via my social media and website. To read the letter to the Secretary of State, click on the news section on my website: www.sarahatherton.org.uk.

The urgency of the situation cannot be overstated. Lives are at stake, and it’s imperative that the Welsh Government acknowledges its shortcomings and accepts the need for intervention. Despite the UK Government’s offer to Welsh NHS patients awaiting surgery to use spare capacity in English hospitals, this has been declined by the Welsh Labour Government.

In the meantime, I will continue to support Wrexham’s patients and our hard-working NHS staff by challenging the Welsh Government for better health service delivery and outcomes. If you have not done so already, please sign my health care campaign. To do so, click on ‘Health Survey’ on my website homepage.

Tomorrow, at long last, the nearly 500,000 signature petition to scrap the Welsh Government’s 20mph policy will be debated in the Senedd. Whilst Welsh Labour claim to be listening to the people of Wales, nothing has changed. The 20mph blanket speed limit still stands. In stark contrast, my campaign calling on Welsh Labour to scrap this anti-car, anti-driver policy and to get Wales moving again continues.

Recently, the Welsh Government’s new Cabinet Secretary for Transport announced that he is open to making changes to the 20mph blanket policy, encouraging councils in Wales to exempt roads from the 20mph speed limit. This means that from September, councils across Wales will have the authority to reinstate 30mph on certain roads.

Whilst I appreciate the new Transport Cabinet Secretary’s effort to appease Wrexham’s drivers, it is a dereliction of duty for the Welsh Government to pass responsibility for their disastrous policy to Wrexham Council.

To ensure that residents can have their say on which roads they would like to be exempt from 20mph, I have launched a survey. The results will be forwarded to Wrexham Council. To share your thoughts, please click on ‘Road Survey - 20mph’ on my website homepage: www.sarahatherton.org.uk. Thank you to everyone who has shared their views already, please circulate this with your family and friends.

If you are a resident in the current Wrexham constituency boundary and need my assistance with any local or national issues, please contact me on: sarah.atherton.mp@parliament.uk.