Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 19 September 2017.
Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, in August, the report about Kris Wade was published from the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board. This was a desktop review into the employment by that health board of Kris Wade, a man who is currently serving a 21-year sentence for the sexually motivated killing of 65-year-old Christine James. In the years leading up to Ms James’s murder, Kris Wade was the subject of no fewer than three separate allegations of sexual abuse amongst vulnerable patients. At the time of the desktop review publication, my party criticised the report for its lack of independence. It is our belief it can never be acceptable for a health board to investigate serious concerns about itself. Following several calls from my party, and indeed the BMA and others in this Chamber, your Government announced Healthcare Inspectorate Wales’s role in reviewing the desktop report that the health board undertook. How on earth can it be acceptable for a health board to investigate such serious accusations of its own failing?