MS for Plaid Cymru ‘shocked but not surprised’ at Health Minister’s latest announcement

SIONED Williams, Plaid Cymru Member of Senedd for South Wales West has said she is “shocked but not surprised” at the Health Minister’s announcement that performance and outcomes at Swansea Bay University Health Board will be escalated to targeted intervention.

In addition, the Health Minister announced that the health board will remain in enhanced monitoring for planning and finance.

Plaid Cymru has questioned whether the Labour Welsh Government’s monitoring framework is “fit for purpose” following the announcement that a number of health boards across Wales have been brought under escalated levels of government intervention.

Sioned Williams MS, Plaid Cymru Member of Senedd for South Wales West, said:

“Labour Welsh Government has today expressed concerns about ‘what is happening’ in terms of long waiting times, handover times in A&E and performance and outcomes at Swansea Bay University Health Board.

“This is picture I recognise from concerns raised with me by constituents.

“The issue here is whether this monitoring framework is fit for purpose to ensure the improvements needed, given that, although various layers of enhanced monitoring were in place from 2016, they were not sufficient in preventing serious failings in its maternity services back in November 2020, the fallout of which is only now belatedly being addressed.

“When the Health Minister herself admits that success looks like health boards coming out of additional government monitoring, when intervention levels are having to creep higher and higher, it really begs the question of how much control Labour Welsh Government has over the NHS in Wales.”