PLAID CYMRU CALL OUT LABOUR’S “CYCLE OF PERPETUAL CRISIS MANAGEMENT” OVER BETSI CADWALADR

February marks three years since Betsi returned to special measures

The ongoing saga in Betsi Cadwaladr highlights a “continued normalisation of failure” and “cycle of perpetual crisis management” in Labour’s handling of the Welsh NHS, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS has said ahead of a Senedd debate that marks three years since the health board returned to special measures.  

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board was placed back in special measures in February 2023 – after the Labour Welsh Government made the political decision to prematurely pull the board out of special measures prior to the 2021 Senedd election.

The troubled health board has spent over half of its existence in targeted intervention, and was initially placed in special measures by the Welsh Government in 2015, following ongoing and systemic failings identified in its services and governance.

In an opposition debate in the Senedd today, Plaid Cymru called on the Welsh Government to strengthen its political leadership to drive up standards in the health board, publish the findings of a recent independent investigations into gaps in the health board’s waiting list data, and accelerate the establishment of fully staffed surgical hubs.

Plaid Cymru will also call on the Labour Welsh Government to implement the recommendations of its report ‘The Welsh Health System: Accountability, Performance and Culture’ to reform NHS governance.

A Plaid Cymru Government will implement the recommendations if in government after the Welsh general election:

1. Goals, Priorities and Planning: simplify healthcare planning and ensure more realistic and deliverable targets;
2. Roles and Accountability: improve accountability by redefining the responsibilities of the Welsh Government and NHS Executive to stop Ministers micro-managing the NHS;
3. Partnership Working: closer working between health and social care through efficient resource-sharing;
4. Capability and Capacity: increase specialist knowledge of healthcare governance in the civil service to improve public health policies and delivery;
5. Performance Measurement and Management: greater data collecting on health service performance and clearer criteria for escalation measures;
6. Public and Patient Engagement: empower the patient voice and promote a culture of welcoming comments and complaints to improve the patient experience and public transparency;
7. Culture: create standardised rules for senior NHS leaders to ensure that accountability arrangements are met.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for health and social care, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said:

“Three years on since Betsi was returned to special measures, it’s disappointing that we’re seeing a continued normalisation of failure and a cycle of perpetual crisis management, rather than meaningful change that gets to grips with the issues once and for all. The people of north Wales deserve better.

“The problems facing our NHS are regrettably evident across Wales, with every single health board in Wales is in some form of targeted intervention, but Labour’s failure is most evident in Betsi Cadwaladr, and its patients and frontline staff are paying the price.

“This whole saga proves that new leadership is needed in Wales – and that’s what Plaid Cymru offers, with a plan to reform NHS governance born from our sheer frustration with Labour’s mishandling of Betsi, which has allowed these issues to fester.

“Our plan outlines clear steps to improve governance and accountability mechanisms in the health service, as well as stronger political leadership to hold the health board to account and to place the NHS on a more sustainable footing.

“After almost 27 years of Labour mismanagement of the NHS here in Wales, Plaid Cymru have the ambition and ideas to improve services that people in Wales both need and deserve.”