5. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:25 pm on 7 June 2022.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 3:25, 7 June 2022

Diolch yn fawr. I did, of course, offer a briefing to your political representative on the health committee, and I'm sure he communicated to you what that information contained.

There is nothing scattergun about this approach. We formally had measures in relation to mental health and governance, and now we are targeting this additional intervention at the area where we have greatest concern, and that is Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, vascular and the emergency department. You can't have it all ways; you can't tell me in one breath that it's scattergun and now you want me to spread that approach to Wrexham Maelor and everywhere else. You can't have it both ways. I think this is the right way to go. This has been identified by the tripartite group to assess where we can make the biggest difference in a short space of time.

There's a difference now in terms of Improvement Cymru. You're quite right, it was a question that I asked: why didn't we bring them in before? It was because they didn't exist until 2019. We had this little intervening issue of COVID that actually knocked a lot of things out of action during that time. The approach, in terms of Improvement Cymru, was based on 1000 Lives. What we have now is a very different focus for the organisation, and that's why things will be different this time.

On top of that, of course, we've put significant additional resources in place, £297 million until 2024. We have had, of course, detailed discussions with the chair and the chief executive in terms of how we can improve the situation in a practical way and to do it at pace. When you say we won't be doing anything until October, if you'd listened carefully to the statement, it was very clear that we would be taking the temperature on a fortnightly basis from the Welsh Government point of view to make sure that we see improvements on a regular basis. It will then be an opportunity to bring in Healthcare Inspectorate Wales again to see if that intervention has made any difference by the end of October.