North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has challenged the Health Minister this week over a whisleblower’s claims that troubled Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is “wasting valuable resources and public money”.
Mr Isherwood raised the matter when questioning the Minister, Vaughan Gething AM, in the Chamber yesterday over the funding of healthcare in North Wales, including the Welsh Government’s funding arrangement with the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Trust’s call for “some extra capacity from Wales” to reduce bed blocking for patients from Wales.
Addressing the Minister, Mr Isherwood said:
“A fifth of the patients at the Countess of Chester Hospital come from Wales, and last week I questioned your colleague the Finance Minister after the Countess of Chester Hospital reported in December that delayed transfers of care - better known to some people as bedblocking - for patients from Wales had gone up 26 per cent compared to the previous year, whilst falling 24 per cent for patients in West Cheshire. And their Chief Finance Officer said ‘there is extra capacity that the West Cheshire system is putting in and we have got to see some extra capacity being put in by Wales’. The Finance Minister said that she would refer that to you.
“Only this morning, I and five other AMs received an e-mail from a whistleblower describing themselves as 'a concerned Betsi Cadwaladr NHS supporter', which said that the Health Board has ‘unsurprisingly failed to break even in any of the years since being placed in special measures’ by you, and that management was ‘wasting valuable resources and public money on IT systems’ such as the ‘Health Roster Clinical Activity Management’ IT system, which has cost ‘over £200,000’.
“No analysis was done on the initial trial, there was no proper business case carried out, the project failure has been hidden from the public, this had been trialled unsuccessfully in 2015 with negative feedback, and the consensus from medical experts was the system wasn't fit for purpose but it still went ahead. As I concluded last week when questioning the Finance Minister, what is going on, Minister, because the buck really does stop with you?”
Responding, the Health Minister said:
“Well, obviously, I can't comment on an e-mail you've had today from a whistleblower about his perspective, but we want to take seriously any and everybody who provide concerns about the use of money.”
With regards the Countess of Chester Hospital situation, he added:
“The facts are that we have seen a significant fall in the amount of delayed transfers of care within North Wales. That is because health and social care have worked together on achieving that. I had to have personal meetings with health and local government over the last few years, and I'm delighted to see real and sustained achievement. We should recognise that and not so easily fall for a line of argument from the Countess of Chester Trust.
“If you look at their financial challenges themselves, it is precious little to do with the health and care system here in Wales. To give you an example, if the Countess of Chester Trust's deficit was transferred into Betsi Cadwaladr, it would nearly double the deficit in Betsi Cadwaladr. Their financial challenges are not the problem of Wales. My patience with the way in which they seek to shift blame for their challenges to North Wales is wearing thin. I want to see a health and care system that works for the person - a genuinely collaborative partnership across the border, but that does require a different level of conduct and behaviour from colleagues in Chester.”
Speaking outside the Chamber Mr Isherwood added: “The issues applying to cross-border health services are too important for them to be subjected to this Minister’s offensive, buck-passing games. When what is in effect North Wales’ fourth General Hospital states that extra capacity needs to be put in by Wales, it is referring to care capacity closer to home for their patients from North Wales to be transferred into. As a devolved matter, this is everything to do ‘with the health and care system here in Wales’ and with Vaughan Gething’s responsibility as the Minister for Health and Social Services in Wales”.
