Devolution: Ten things Wales has done differently

Looking back, let’s reflect on what has been achieved by the Senedd in the last two decades and where Wales has charted its own course.

Free prescriptions

From April 2007, the NHS prescription charge was abolished in Wales.

All patients registered with a GP in Wales became entitled to free prescription.

At the time of its introduction, the move was criticised as a ‘gimmick’, but fourteen years on, prescriptions in Wales remain free.

In 2017, ten years after its introduction, Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething said Wales’ prescriptions bill had only increased by £3 million over the ten years since its introduction.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have since followed Wales’ lead.

Plastic bag charge

In 2010, wales introduced its Single Use Carrier Bags Charge, putting an end to the free and limitless use of single use plastic carrier bags.

Environmentalists heralded the move as a serious attempt to tackle the issue of single use plastic, while any reluctance from the public seemed to subside quite quickly.

The money raised by the 5p charge for charities in Wales has also been welcomed.

In 2015, the UK Government introduced the same charge in England.

Opt-out organ donation

In December 2015, Wales became the first country in the UK to introduce an opt-out system of organ donation.

It meant consent for organ donation is presumed, unless you opt out.

Consent rates for donation in Wales reached an all-UK high of 77 per cent in 2018/19, an increase from 58 per cent in 2015/16.

Since its introduction, England has also changed to an opt-out system, Scotland will do so this month and Northern Ireland continues to consider a similar change.

Safe Nurse Staffing Levels

Wales became the first country in Europe to legislate safe nurse staffing levels when it passed the Nurse Staffing Levels Act in 2016.

The act places a duty on Welsh health boards to ensure a sufficient number of nurses to provide safe, effective and quality care to patients.

The act means health boards will have a duty to report on compliance with staffing requirements and take action if failings occur.

Again, the law was the first of its kind in the UK, and it reflected international research that showed poor nurse staffing levels increase mortality by up to 26 per cent compared to better staffed wards.

Free hospital parking

Parking at all NHS hospitals in Wales has been free since 2018.

The Welsh Government first announced the policy in 2008, but it took a decade for contracts at all Welsh hospitals to expire.

In some Welsh hospitals, staff, patients and visitors were having to pay up to £10 per day for parking.

Hospitals in England still charge for parking, however charges for staff were waived during the Covid pandemic.

Free bus passes

The free bus pass for over 60s was introduced in Wales in 2002 in an effort to combat access for the 25% of pensioners in Wales living in poverty.

Pass holders account for about 47% of bus journeys in Wales, with around 730,000 passes in circulation at the end of 2018.

Up to 900,000 free passes may be in use this year.

As with everything, there is a cost to free travel, with bus operators reimbursed for each single adult fare. The scheme had cost around £840 million up to 2016.

In 2019, the Welsh Government shelved a new law that would have seen the bus pass age rise to match the state pension age.

Welsh Coast Path

When the Wales Coast path opened in 2012, it became the world’s first continuous coastal path.

From the border near Chester in the north, to Chepstow in the south, 870 continuous miles of coastal path are now waymarked and accessible.

Combining the path with the Offa’s Dyke National Trail means you can now walk the entire perimeter of Wales on waymarked and maintained footpath, another world first.

The path was supported by the Welsh Government’s Rural Communities fund.

Free museum entry

The National Museum of Wales, a Welsh Government funded body, introduced free entry to its sites in 2001, eight months before the UK Government did the same in England.

It means museums like Big Pit, St Fagans and the National Slate Museum have now been free to people in Wales for two decades.

Fire sprinklers

Wales became the first country in the world to make fire sprinklers compulsory in all new homes in 2016.

The law applies to newly built houses and blocks of flats, as well as care homes and university halls of residence.

The pandemic

The pandemic has shone light on the powers of the Senedd and Welsh Government like never before.

On occasions, Wales has charted its own course, introducing a local authority led track and trace system and taking a different approach to lockdowns.

Debate persists about how much devolution has helped Wales during the pandemic, but latest polling suggests the majority of the Welsh public support the Welsh Governement's approach.

This article originally appeared on the Argus' sister site The National.