Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:49 pm on 12 February 2020.
I'm happy to confirm something of a timeline that may provide some assurance and information for people who are concerned. So, the health board started to undertake the review from January last year. The report was received in September/October. It was due to go to the mental health partnership board in September/October, but that was then pulled as a result of there being apologies when people weren't able to attend the meeting. It did then go to that partnership board meeting in November last year. And after a verbal update provided to the board's quality and safety meeting, it's then gone to a formal discussion at the meeting at the end of January, where independent members commented upon the report and they put in place the range of measures to implement recommendations.
The oversight and the terms of reference for the task and finish group that will look through that will be openly discussed and endorsed and reported back, for oversight, to the quality and safety committee. So, it is going through the board process. Indeed, the report and the response to recommendations will go through the final board reporting mechanisms in March of this year, I understand. So, it is being openly dealt with. There is no challenge to people seeing the report and it being shared, and of course the response of the health board as well.
And in terms of the governance questions the Member raises, we know that both Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and indeed the Wales Audit Office regularly report on their views on governance structures within the health board and whether they are working effectively. I don't think this particular challenge—and it's a challenge that the health board themselves have uncovered, in terms of asking for the review and dealing with it—is a fair way to try to describe the whole picture on mental health services in north Wales. That rounded picture is provided by a range of evidence, and I will get the advice that I do usually receive from Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, the Wales Audit Office, and indeed my officials, in the normal way, and I look forward to reporting back on that in the Chamber on a number of occasions in the future.