Welsh health board fails to report accurate waiting times

A formal investigation will be held after Wales' largest health board failed to produce accurate waiting-time figures, Health Secretary Jeremy Miles has announced.

Problems with Betsi Cadwaladr's figures led to a postponement of the publication of NHS Wales performance statistics last week.

On Wednesday, Miles issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the north Wales health board, demanding the issues were resolved, and stating he was "unhappy" with the lack of urgency in its response.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said it was working to address the matter, while insisting the data failure had "not impacted the delivery of care".

The health board's chief executive, Carol Shillabeer, said: "We recognise the seriousness of the issue we are currently facing with our referral-to-treatment waiting-time data, and we have been working at pace to update and resubmit it.

She added: "It is important to emphasise that this issue has not affected patients receiving their appointments".

The data mishap is the latest in a long list of problems linked to the health board, which delivers NHS services to a population of approximately 700,000.

Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar said the situation at the board was "totally unacceptable" and called for an independent inquiry into the organisation.

Plaid Cymru's health spokesman Mabon ap Gwynfor said the news was "incredibly damning and tells us everything we need to know about Labour's failure to bring order to Betsi Cadwaladr".

The Welsh government has suspended publication of the health board's waiting-time data while the investigation takes place.

The precise nature of the problem is unclear, but it is believed to involve counting patients who have already been treated as if they are still waiting.

According to Miles, there have been "concerns about the accuracy" of the data for some months.

In a written statement to the Senedd, Miles said the investigation will focus on planned-care figures - but not the waiting-time figures for cancer, diagnostics, therapies or emergency care, where no problems have been found.

The publication of waiting-time statistics that had been due last week is expected to be released imminently, but will not include figures from north Wales.

Miles told the Senedd experts from elsewhere in the Welsh government and Welsh NHS will lead the investigation into Betsi Cadwaladr's waiting-time data.

"We want to restore trust and accurate reporting as quickly as possible... with the aim of resuming publication of the official statistics by the next scheduled statistical release," said Miles.

The next release is due before Christmas.

Betsi Cadwaladr has the worst waiting times performance of all Welsh NHS organisations - with more than 5,400 patients waiting two years or more for treatment in August.

It also has the worst A&E delays and longest waits for cancer treatment in Wales.

The health board's poor performance is compounded by longstanding concerns about the way it is run.

It was put into "special measures" for a second time by the Welsh government in February 2023 over serious concerns about its governance and leadership.

The health board previously spent more than five years, between 2015 and 2020, under the highest level of Welsh government oversight and control.

Earlier last week, before the data failings came to light, the health secretary announced a further team of external experts would be called in.

Miles said this was to deal with issues that continued to "pose risks to patient safety and public confidence".

The team, he said, would focus on reducing ambulance handover delays and improving waiting times for planned treatments, diagnostics and cancer care, adding their presence would also help "strengthen governance, assurance, and leadership capability".

Some critics claim the north Wales health board is too big to function effectively, and have suggested it should be broken up.

In an interview earlier this month the new Chief Executive of the NHS in Wales told BBC Wales she had not yet come to any conclusion about whether or not it was fit for purpose in its current state.