Commenting on evidence provided to the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee today - in which the chairman of Betsi Cadwaladr UHB confirmed a 200 thousand pounds salary is still being paid to the Board’s suspended Chief Executive, who is now ‘seconded’ to the NHS in England - Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Darren Millar AM, said:

“This is an astonishing revelation and communities across Wales will rightly question how this can possibly represent value for money for the taxpayer.

“Betsi is already expecting to be 30 million in the red by the end of the financial year in March; the last thing they need is to be spending more than two hundred thousand on an employee who isn’t actually working for the organisation.

“This money would be better spent on cutting waiting lists and improving patient care”