The North Wales Group of Conservative MPs has called for an urgent police investigation into the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) scandal, revealed in today’s Daily Mail.
The newspaper report reveals that senior executives of the Board apparently conspired to falsify accounts, altered documents and made misleading statements to Board members and Welsh Government and Audit Wales officials. Almost all the executives involved are still employed by the Board and are drawing salaries of up to six figures.
Speaking on behalf of the Group, Clwyd West MP, David Jones, said:
“The Mail report reveals a disturbing level of apparent dishonesty on the part of Board executives, most of whom are still in post. There is good reason to believe that they are guilty of conspiring to falsify accounts and of misconduct in public office. These are very serious matters and something the police should now take up.
“The people of North Wales have long been dissatisfied with the provision of healthcare services by BCUHB and will be hugely concerned by the Mail’s investigations and a report that appears to have been suppressed.
“What is even worse is the apparent scapegoating of independent Board members, who commissioned the report by EY as a consequence of their concerns about the executives’ action, but were effectively dismissed by the Welsh health minister, Eluned Morgan, for their trouble.
“The Welsh Government’s First Minister, Mark Drakeford, should offer them a full and immediate apology. It was no way to treat decent people who had displayed a strong public-spirited ethos.”
