Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has hit out at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) and the Labour Welsh Government after yet another damning report on the health board, this time exposing “systematic cultural failings" in the organisation's finance team.
An investigation by accountancy firm Ernest Young (EY) said Betsi Cadwaladr wrongly and deliberately accounted for millions of pounds.
The leaked report revealed that the Health Board filed false accounts and failed to gain Welsh Government approval for various multi-million-pound contracts.
It is understood that BCUHB was on course to underspend around £10m of its budget for the 2020/21 financial year. Rather than saving taxpayers’ money, the health board instead set about spending substantial amounts quickly.
EY’s forensic accountants found the health board recorded transactions in its 2021-22 accounts that related to work which contractors had not yet done, or medical equipment which did not arrive until months afterwards.
A criminal fraud investigation into the matter was dropped earlier this year, though an internal review of what happened is continuing.
Commenting, Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies said:
“This report is damning. Its description of collusion between multiple individuals both within and outside of the Health Board to present dishonest accounts, falsify documents and manipulate and withhold information suggests an indifference to rules and standards and a lack of accountability.
“It provides yet further evidence of the systemic and cultural malaise that pervades Betsi Cadwaladr UHB – a situation which has been allowed to develop during 25 years of Labour-run devolved government in Cardiff Bay. It is a disgrace that the people of North Wales continue to be so incredibly let down by local NHS services.”
Read coverage of this issue in the Daily Mail at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12109405/The-report-shows-Labour-trusted-run-NHS.html
