North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has challenged the Welsh Health Minister this afternoon over her decision to force the Independent Members of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to resign, rather than focussing on “the operational executive and their delivery”.
Responding to the Health Minister’s statement ‘Escalation and further intervention to improve the quality of services in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’ in the Senedd Chamber, Mr Isherwood referred to a letter sent to the First Minister by the Independent Members of the Health Board yesterday, which North Wales MSs were copied in on, expressing their concern at the way in which the Health Minister has dealt with the situation and about the future of health services in North Wales now the Health Board is back in special measures.
Mr Isherwood also referred to the concerns regarding the executive team at the Health Board which he raised almost 12 months ago as Chair of the Senedd’s Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee.
Challenging the Health Minister in the Chamber, he said:
“After Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board attended the Senedd's Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee last March, I wrote to them as Chair regarding concerns about some of the responses that they provided us with and seeking clarity on certain points. Our letter included ‘We were disappointed by the lack of ownership and responsibility taken by the executive of the problems at the Board’, and, referring to various reports over the previous decade, including the Holden, Ockenden, HASCAS and Public Account Committee Reports, this letter stated, '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'.
“Well, in your Written Statement yesterday, Minister, you stated that you have agreed that it is time for ‘the Chair, Vice-Chair and Independent Members of the Board to step aside’.
“How, therefore, do you respond to the alternative perspective placed on this by the Independent Members of the Board in their letter to the First Minister yesterday, on which North Wales Members were copied, where they state: 'We are writing to express our sincere concerns about the future of health services in North Wales following this morning’s meeting with the Minister when we were left with no option but to resign as Independent Members with immediate effect’ and ‘we are gravely concerned that the Minister's response to the Audit Wales report, and her focus on Independent Members rather than the operational executive and their delivery, exposes patients across North Wales and the organisation to significant risk going forward'?
“Finally, the Senedd's Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee has consistently highlighted concerns around the oversight of the Health Board by Welsh Government. Why have you and your predecessor Health Ministers allowed matters to reach this head, when the Public Accounts Committee reported concerns regarding Board functionality in its reports on the Board published in 2013, in 2016, in 2019, and the North Wales Community Health Council has also been raising these concerns with you throughout?”