Dadl y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig - Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Betsi Cadwaladr

NDM8911 Paul Davies (Preseli Pembrokeshire)

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Notes that 8 June 2025 marks ten years since Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board was placed in special measures.

2. Calls on the Welsh Government to initiate a public inquiry into Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

The following amendments were tabled:

Amendment 1 Jane Hutt (Vale of Glamorgan)

Delete point 2 and replace with:

Notes the improvements made under the special measures regime to date and the work Betsi Cadwaladr UHB still has to do to, as highlighted in the two-year progress report, published in March. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board special measures (level 5): year 2 progress report

If amendment 1 is agreed, amendment 2 will be de-selected.

Amendment 2 Heledd Fychan (South Wales Central)

Delete point 2 and replace with:

Commends the hard work of staff at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board under exceptionally challenging conditions.

Regrets:

a) how this hard work has historically been undermined by chronic dysfunctionality at the board level over many years, as well as the failures and lack of transparency in the Welsh Government’s approach to the special measures framework - which included taking the health board out of special measures prematurely in 2020 for political expediency; and

b) that residents in north Wales face disproportionately longer waits for treatment compared to the rest of Wales.

Calls on the Welsh Government to fully implement the recommendations of Plaid Cymru’s report ‘The Welsh Health System: Accountability, Performance and Culture’, to improve governance and accountability mechanisms at Betsi Cadwaladr - including reforming the special measures framework and establishing standardised rules of engagement for senior leaders to ensure that accountability arrangements are not undermined or worked around.

Plaid Cymru report ‘The Welsh Health System: Accountability, Performance and Culture’