North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has questioned the Counsel General for Wales over the forced resignation of the Independent Members of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board by the Health Minister.
Speaking in yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood, who Shadows the Counsel General, asked what advice the Counsel General, Mick Antoniw MS, had given the Health Minister before she forced the resignations, and since.
He said:
“The Welsh Government's 'NHS Wales Induction Guide for Independent Board Members' includes:
'The aim is to have a single set of values which guide how we work, change culture and shape the way we behave. Living these values means being autonomous yet accountable, being both brave and bold and creating a culture that is open and transparent...’
'Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.’
'The role of the Board is to...hold the Chief Executive and senior management team to account through purposeful challenge and scrutiny'.
And,
'Board members do not instruct the Chief Executive or any member of staff on operational matters but can challenge and question'.
“In this context, what advice as Counsel General did you give to the Health Minister before she forced the independent Members of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to resign?”
The Counsel General replied “decisions that are taken by the Health Minister in respect of her functions as a Minister are properly addressed to that Minister and not to myself?”
Mr Isherwood added:
“What advice would you now give to the Health Minister, in the context of the Statement that I've received on behalf of all the former Independent Members of the Health Board - respected people in North Wales – stating: 'We believe she is setting healthcare in North Wales back a decade'.
“And including,
'Each CEO has told us that they have found the Executive Team unmanageable, made worse by ineffective workforce HR support. We therefore sought the advice of Welsh Government officials. On each occasion, as with all matters relating to the Executive Team, we are required to have explicit Welsh Government support and approval’; ‘Some well-intentioned executives have been tarnished and undermined by the behaviours of their colleagues, such that the team itself became dysfunctional and ineffective as a group’; ‘The Minister says that she delegates the running of the Health Board to the Independent Members. This is inaccurate. Welsh Government and the Executive Team run the Health Board, with the Board an afterthought at times’; And ‘through her actions, the Minister has wiped the memory of the organisation. Those who battled to see the organisation learn from past failings have been replaced. Good staff are leaving, and those who remain are struggling to get even basic decisions made’.”
The Counsel General said the Health Minister had responded to similar questions that were put to her the previous day.
He said:
“She explained the decisions that have been taken, and the basis on which those decisions were taken. Those are a matter for the Health Minister, and should be properly addressed to the Health Minister.”
Mr Isherwood added:
“I'd suggest it goes a little bit further than that. And this, I have to say, reeks of an unethical Government, with the Minister following her predecessors in seeking to silence the truth-tellers and bury accountability.”