(Title Image: © Copyright Richard Hoare and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence BY-SA-2.0)
- Surprise announcement comes after meeting with officials earlier in November.
- Extra £82million package to improve services as the health board moves a step down from special measures.
- Seeming change of heart in the space of a few weeks prompts scepticism from MSs.
After almost five and a half years, yesterday the Health Minister, Vaughan Gething (Lab, Cardiff S. & Penarth), announced that Betsi Cadwaladr health board – which serves the north – will be taken out of special measures immediately.
The health board was originally placed into special measures (which effectively means being directly run by the Welsh Government) in June 2015 following several damning investigations into mental health services.
The Minister confirmed areas of concern remain, so the health board will be placed a step down from special measures (called targeted intervention). An extra £82million will be provided to improve unscheduled care, mental health and areas of planned care such as orthopaedics.
Criticising the decision not to tell members before the announcement, Darren Millar MS (Con, Clwyd West) didn’t believe there were real improvements on the ground; this was electioneering ahead of 2021’s Senedd election. Given the problems that remain in GP recruitment and mental health, he found the decision hard to justify, describing it as “the most miraculous recovery since Lazarus was raised from the dead.”
Rhun ap Iorwerth MS (Plaid, Ynys Môn) couldn’t help but note the sudden change of heart in a period of just a few weeks; in October there were no signs the health board would leave special measures. Did the Minister now conclude that special measures hampered medical recruitment?
Mandy Jones MS (Ind, North Wales) wondered what was so special about special measures in the first place? Waiting lists got longer, GP and dental appointments became harder to get – and that was pre-Covid.
The Minister told the chamber that the decision was based on evidence provided by various officials and health bodies. It was a difficult choice but one which “which put patients before politics” – aiming a barb in the direction of the Conservatives.
