Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 19 September 2018.
I of course want Betsi Cadwaladr to succeed. I want it to deliver the sort of quality of healthcare that each of us, in every single community, would expect. Your proposal to break up the health board is not one that is supported by the overwhelming majority of staff within the health board—we've been through this in responses from them. And I don't believe that the structural re-engineering that you suggest would deliver a better service. Splitting hospitals and primary care is something that we've tried before in Wales, and it didn't deliver the sort of improvement that we wanted. Splitting hospital trusts away from primary care has not delivered the sort of improvement that everyone would want in England across the whole system either. So, I would caution the Member before he suggests that that sort of re-engineering in north Wales will provide the eventual outcomes that, I think, all of us do wish to see.