Rishi Sunak has said he hopes there will be a further police investigation at the Betsi Cadwaldr Health Board after a report found that senior management had deliberately altered financial documents.
A damning report into Wales’ largest health board has found that senior members of the finance team deliberately misrepresented the organisation's accounts. The report, carried out by accountancy firm Ernst Young (EY), found there was systemic cultural failings in the finance team at Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board and that the poor practices were widely known within senior leaders of the health board. You can see the full details of the report here.
The Prime Minister has was asked in the House of Commons by North Wales MP David Jones: "Does the Prime Minster agree with me that this disgraceful state of affairs should be investigated by the police?"
Rishi Sunak replied: "I am deeply worried about the Betsi Cadwaladr hospital in Labour run North Wales. It has been...in special measures for six of the last eight years. And as he remarked, the official audit said there was worrying dysfunctionality. I do hope this issue is investigated properly and I believe my honourable friend is in contact with the Secretary of State for Wales to take this further."
It is important to note that Betsi Cadwaladr is a health board and not a hospital.
The report outlines several issues, including paying suppliers before they had received goods, but the thrust of the report was that senior management were deliberately misallocating spending to a single financial year when, in fact, it was spread over many years. The health board has been recently put back into special measures by the Welsh Government after being taken out of them just before the 2021 election.
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