Lesley Griffiths, the health minister of Wales has said that health boards in the country should strictly follow their budgets in the coming years.

She said that overspending cannot be substantiated but outlined the importance of delivering quality services. She was speaking at the Welsh NHS Confederation conference at the Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff.

The warming from the health minister comes as health boards try to cut more than more than a quarter of a billion pounds from their budgets. She said that the Together for Health document published last week shows that the government has set clear objectives and have outlined means to achieve them. She urged professionals to take and lead and deliver better health and everyday services.

“Delivery means getting things right on a daily basis and improving over time. I need to see both. Please do not think I don’t appreciate how hard that is especially at the present time. However, the discipline of achieving good performance and tight financial control is vital if there are to be real gains over the longer term,” she said.

She urged the professionals to try to achieve the set targets of service and financial performance this year so as to have a strong foundation for targets in the coming years.