Welsh Conservatives have this afternoon called on the Welsh Government to impose a reformed special measures regime to provide troubled Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board with “the leadership and resources necessary to address failings, and deliver the high-quality health care that the people of North Wales deserve”.
Speaking in his Party’s Debate on the North Wales Health Board, MS for the region, Mark Isherwood, slammed the Welsh Government’s decision to move the Health Board from special measures in November 2020, stating that it was “inappropriate” and that “serious questions need answering”.
He also said “It is more than regrettable that the Welsh Government has failed to deliver promised improvements at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – and that successive Health Ministers, term after term, have failed to address serious issues regarding the Health Board I and others have raised with them on behalf of constituents”.
Speaking in the debate in the Senedd, he added:
“It would be a dereliction of duty if this Welsh Government rejects our call today for them to impose a reformed special measures regime to provide the Health Board with the leadership and resources necessary to address failings, and deliver the high-quality health care that the people of North Wales deserve.
“In saying this, I note that the Special Measures regime introduced in England after the Keogh Review requires intervention by an external team to make the necessary improvements.
“Further, the Minister’s statement yesterday that new Targeted Intervention need only be extended to include Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, is contradicted by my constituent casework and challenged by the evidence received by the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee.”
“After the Health Board attended the Committee on 9th March, I wrote as Committee Chair to their Chief Executive and Chairman regarding Members’ concerns about some of the responses they had provided and seeking clarity on certain points.”
Although the Health Board’s response was 235 pages long, at the Committee’s meeting on the 25th May, Mr Isherwood highlighted a number of areas of concern which it did not cover.
These included: That the Health Board’s Integrated Medium Term Plan (IMTP) for the next three years, “doesn’t mention Accident & Emergency services”, its “stated priorities don’t include mental health services”, and that “the letter and IMTP notes that BCUHB must make £105m in savings over the next three years. The letter and plan don’t detail how these savings will be achieved, although a broad set of ‘opportunities for savings’ are listed in areas such as planned care, unscheduled care, mental health and ‘other’.”.
At the 25th May meeting, in terms of Mental Health Services, Mr Isherwood also stated: “many of these areas of concern remain unaddressed despite recommendations and conclusions made in various reports over the past decade including the Holden, Ockenden, HASCAS and Public Accounts Committee reports.
“We are also concerned about the ongoing presence of executives and managers at the Health Board who were implicated in the conclusions of these reports and about their ability to deliver the internal change required”.
Speaking in today’s debate, he added:
“As a North Wales resident put it in an email last Saturday: ‘those Teflon managers whose bullying of staff went unaddressed MUST BE REMOVED IN A CLEAR AND TRANSPARENT WAY’.
“There are a many other serious areas of concern, including:
- Recent Stroke data showing that the Stroke Units in North Wales only scored overall Grades of D, and E on admission to Stroke Units, on a scale of A to E.
- Case after case of Flintshire Children with Neurodiverse conditions denied diagnosis by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, with bad parenting blamed instead and families pushed into crisis.
- AND serious allegations raised that the Health Board has not been accurately reporting the complaints against it, and about the number and severity of nationally reportable patient safety incidents being reported at the Health Board.
“It is more than clear that the decision to move the Health Board from special measures in November 2020 was inappropriate, and serious questions need answering.”
