Health Board Progress

Page published: 20/02/2024

This time last year, Welsh Government announced that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, was being placed in the highest level of escalation; Special Measures. This decision was taken due to serious concerns about performance, leadership and culture.  

Over the last year, there have been many changes within the health board with support and advice provided by expert independent advisers.  

There has been a change in leadership and approach. We now have a firm foundation to build on, with a new Chief Executive, Chair and Board members in place who are committed to improving our ways of working, our handling of finances and ultimately improving the quality of care provided and the experiences of our patients and their families.  

Of course, there is much more still to be done and as we continue on our improvement journey, we are committed to ensuring excellent healthcare services and long-term positive change for the people of north Wales  

Audit Wales’ recent milestone report showed the health board is moving in the right direction with more stability. There is a clearer direction towards a positive and supportive culture and we know we must focus on rebuilding trust and confidence in the organisation amongst public, staff and partners. 

We still face many challenges, we have services that still need to improve, ongoing financial challenges and more to do to lay the foundations of the organisation we want and need to be.  

We know that people have been frustrated by the amount of time they have had to wait for appointments, care and treatment and over the last year we have been able to make real inroads in reducing some of the waiting times for our longest waiters. We will continue to prioritise reducing waiting times as we move forward.  

Our staff continue to work incredibly hard to provide the services required across primary, community and hospital settings. We want to support them in doing the jobs they are expertly trained to do, well; celebrating their efforts and successes along the way.  

We are committed to working with our staff, our partners and our communities to make even more progress over the year to come and beyond. 

We are working towards improvements across the Health Board under the following five goals, which will be built upon over the next year: 

• Being a well-functioning board 

• Having a clear, deliverable plan 

• Having strong leadership and engagement 

• Improving access, outcomes and experience 

• Being a learning, self-improving organisation  

More information can be found below: