Finance Minister Mark Drakeford has claimed that Wales has “too many hospitals and too many beds.”

Speaking on the “For Wales, See Wales” podcast, the former First Minister said that Wales was “over hospitalised” and that the hospital sector “sucked resources” in the health service.

Mr Drakeford said that primary care, like GPs, needs more resources because they see more patients than other parts of the NHS. But he said that the current funding system gives more money to secondary care (hospitals), which are expensive to run.

He said: "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."

"That is the truth. Secondary care, as it's called, the hospital sector, sucks the resources in the health service, and yet nine out of 10 contacts between the individual and the health service happens in primary care, in your GP surgery.

"But the money is nothing like that. The money is sucked into the hospital sector because it's so expensive to run. So the first thing I would say is we are over hospitalised in Wales."

Brecon and Radnorshire MS and Conservative health spokesman James Evans said: “Mark Drakeford’s claim that Wales has ‘too many hospitals and too many beds’ highlights Labour’s disconnect after 26 years in power.

“Our NHS is bogged down by excessive bureaucracy and bloated management.

“It’s time for fundamental reform to prioritise patient care and fix our NHS.”

Meanwhile, the latest NHS figures show that the longest hospital waiting lists are continuing to rise in Wales.

Two-year waits have increased again to 24,361 in Wales, compared with just 151 in England.

The overall waiting list rose to 802,268 - the highest on record.