On June 8th 2015, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board became the first health board in Wales to be placed in special measures, the highest of three levels of intervention the Welsh Government can take.

The decision came after a string of financial woes, management failings and growing waiting lists, with the last straw being a damning report identifying "institutional abuse" at the Tawel Fan mental health ward at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Denbighshire, which closed in 2013.

The Health Board was abruptly taken out of special measures in November 2020 – six months before the Senedd election – despite continued failings.  

In a Senedd debate on the health board last week,  I called on the Labour Government to impose a reformed special measures regime on Betsi in order to address its historic failings.

We referred to the serious failings identified in the Health Board’s vascular services, the identified deficiencies in care, record-keeping, consent-taking, and follow-up in a number of cases, and the fact that reports have highlighted the “loss of dignity” suffered by some patients, alongside cases where patient safety was put at risk. 

We also spoke of the difficulties that the Health Board is experiencing with mental health provision with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board having the second worst waiting times in Wales. The latest Local Primary Mental Health Support Services figures show that in March two out of three children and young people on a waiting list were waiting in excess of the 28 day target for an assessment.

There have also been harrowing reports of people in North Wales being advised to drive to hospital by family members following a stroke due to long ambulance response times. Another patient in North Wales was left to wait in their car in a hospital car park overnight with a suspected pulmonary embolism, a potentially fatal condition.

It is quite clear to everyone that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board isn't working. Patients are being let down. Patient safety is being compromised. Some patients have come to harm and tragically others have died as a result of what has happened in the health board.

We know that the working environment for staff is also unacceptable. There are significant staff shortages posts with many not being filled. The staff are under pressure, and that pressure leads to mistakes.

For many years I have repeatedly defended the Welsh Government's position that the last thing that the health board needs in North Wales is reorganisation, but I'm now prepared to accept that this must be considered.  

As I said in the debate, “I have seen enough tears, I have seen enough bereaved loved ones, I have seen enough reports from the Coroner saying that this shouldn't have happened and that shouldn't have happened, I have seen enough Ombudsman's reports to persuade me that it ain't working. It ain't right. So, let's have an independent review of the structures. Let's make sure that we keep the public informed and the staff informed about the changes that are going to need to be made, and let's get a special measures programme that works. Let's get rid of those people who are responsible for that underlying culture in the organisation, those people who have never moved on, who have been around throughout, and let's get this right for the sake of the population in north Wales and the people that I serve as my constituents.”

Sadly the Welsh Government rejected our motion for a reformed special measures regime to end the crisis at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

How many more damning reports are we going to have to receive before the Welsh Government as a whole wakes up to the fact that Betsi is broken and needs fixing as a matter of urgency?