7. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services: Publication of Donna Ockenden's Governance Review

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:20 pm on 17 July 2018.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 6:20, 17 July 2018

Well, let's try again. How do you respond to the statement by Donna Ockenden that,

'Staff are frequently commented on in a positive way. The good practice seen is often despite (rather than because of) any specific interventions by either the CPG management team or the BCUHB Board over the timescale, particularly from 2009 to 2016'?

How do you reconcile the statement in the letter to north Wales Assembly Members from the health board, received today, that,

'many of our current challenges stem from historic issues. There is much work to do to embed improvements across the...organisation but we are absolutely committed to increasing the pace of change for the good' with the Donna Ockenden review statement that,

'As recently as the end of 2017 actions promised following reviews and inspections in previous years were found not to have been carried out by BCUHB'?

You conclude your statement by saying it's been over four and a half years since concerns were first raised regarding the care and treatment at the Tawel Fan ward. Why do you keep repeating that when I've repeatedly stated—most recently here in May—that I represented constituents in 2009 alleging that treatment of their loved ones in the unit had nearly killed them, and that they were now worried about the treatment others may receive in the unit, and that Donna Ockenden

'found that the systems, structures and processes of governance, management and leadership introduced by the...Board from 2009 were wholly inappropriate and significantly flawed'?

Will you now address the question I put to you in May after the HASCAS report over why the findings of the HASCAS report appear to completely ignore the absolutely contradictory findings of previous official reports by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales in 2013 and the dementia care mapping in October 2013? How do you respond to concerns raised by the chief executive of the community health council in correspondence to the health board that there had been a serious data breach in relation to one of the patients, which had occurred when the health board supplied the relative with his mother's medical records and the community health council added that this is an all too common occurrence when BCUHB supply medical records to its clients? This was last month that that was written. And my very final question, in relation again to the letter received from the health board today: it says that the board will establish a stakeholder group—which seems rather late in the day—to help the improvement group understand and take account of the impact on stakeholders by providing a forum that enables a more in-depth assessment to be made whilst at the same time providing a means of identifying emerging stakeholder-related issues that need to be brought to the attention of the improvement group. Why, after all these years, are they still completely failing to understand and completely ignoring the issues identified by the Auditor General for Wales in his valedictory letter to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee that we have to start doing things differently by designing and delivering services with patients and communities because, if we don't, we're going to continue making the same mistakes?