PATIENTS in Wales should have a legal right to a proper number of nurses staffing their hospital wards, Plaid Cymru will claim today. The party will pledge to include the demand in a Patient Rights Contract if it comes to power in the Assembly elections next week.

Plaid Cymru yesterday promised a full pay rise for nurses as part of its programme for the NHS. It would ditch a staggered increase which will give nurses in England and Wales a 1.5 per cent pay rise in April and another one per cent in November.

THOUSANDS of nurses in Wales were at the weekend promised an immediate pay boost if Plaid Cymru forms the next Assembly government. Shadow health minister Helen Mary Jones also pledged to scrap the hospital closure programme across Wales and cap then scrap charges on home care.

By TOM BODDEN Welsh Affairs Correspondent THE public lost faith in the NHS shake-up in Wales because it was not properly consulted about threats to popular hospitals, Plaid Cymru claimed yesterday.

PLAID Cymru will call today for a review of proposals for the downgrading of hospitals. It will claim public confidence has been shaken in communities across Wales by the handling of consultations over changes to hospital services.