WALES’ health minister has sounded the alarm over the future of the NHS, warning that the health service will need to be reformed to prepare for an ageing population.

Illnesses like cancer and diabetes will all become more prevalent as people live longer, Eluned Morgan told a packed conference room of health professionals at Newport’s Celtic Manor Resort on Thursday.

Ms Morgan also said people would have to take more responsibility for their own health and wellbeing to help relieve pressures on beleaguered hospitals, which are still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Her comments came as the UK celebrates 75 years of the NHS, which was founded by Blaenau Gwent politician Aneurin Bevan in 1948.

As part of a conference examining the future of health and care, Ms Morgan said the anniversary was an opportunity to “reflect on the vision and delivery of an institution which has literally saved and transformed the lives of generations of people across Wales and across the United Kingdom”.

This included herself and members of her own family, whom she revealed had been injured in a plane crash when she was 11.

“My mother's ribs were broken and my brother, who was four at the time, it cracked his spine,” she told the conference.

“It was only thanks to the dedication of health workers in the Royal Infirmary, in Cardiff, who care for him for months on end, that he was able to completely recover.” Among Ms Morgan’s pledges for improving the NHS today was the establishing of a new independent group to review “whether the governance and accountability mechanisms of today’s NHS are fit for the future”.

And in light of ongoing problems with waiting lists for treatment, the minister said she would be “putting pressure” on health boards to make sure patients are seen more quickly – already this year, the Welsh NHS has missed some of its key performance targets.

This “pressure” will focus on the people facing the longest waits, and Ms Morgan said she would “require health boards to ensure every person in Wales waiting for longer than three years for an outpatient appointment are given an appointment by September this year”.