Commenting on the news that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has been fined £200,000 by Llandudno Magistrates’ Court after the death of Dawn Owen, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for North Wales, Darren Millar MS said: 

“My heart goes out to the family and loved ones of Dawn Owen. Her death should not have happened and was entirely preventable.

“The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has been in special measures and targeted intervention due to failings in mental health services since June 2015. It is a disgrace that, more than eight years later, mental health patients in North Wales are still coming to harm and needlessly dying in our hospitals.

“The public in North Wales are fed up with excuses and apologies, they want to see a Health Board that learns lessons and implements change when things go wrong, but that has not been happening.

“We need an independent enquiry to investigate the failings in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board so that confidence can be restored.”