WELSH Conservatives are calling for a scathing report over financial dealings at BCUHB to be published. 

Commenting ahead of today's (June 7) Welsh Conservatives Debate in the Senedd - 'Accounting practices at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board', Darren Millar, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for North Wales and MS for Clwyd West, said: “The Ernst & Young (EY) report exposes unacceptable and allegedly criminal practices by senior executives and managers in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) and beyond.

“There is significant public interest in its contents and the public have a right to know what has been happening.

“Given that the BCUHB has been placed back into special measures, the Health Minister has the power to direct the Health Board to publish the report - she should do so without delay.”

“A failure to publish the report only serves to give the impression of a cover up.”

A motion being laid before the Senedd proposes that:

  • The Ernst & Young forensic report, of accounting issues at BCUHB, should be published in full and be in the public domain.
  • Calls upon BCUHB to publish the Ernst & Young report.
  • Requests, given the findings in the Ernst & Young report, that a wider and independent review be undertaken to provide assurances that
  • The practices identified at the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board are not happening in other NHS organisations in Wales; and
  • Financial years prior to those reviewed by Ernst & Young were not affected by similar practices.

Mr Millar was given an anonymous copy of the unreleased EY report.

He said findings include "false accounting and the manipulation of documents, which amount to fraud".

Last month, Eluned Morgan, Minister for Health and Social Services of Wales, said that "key individuals" named in the report has been suspended. 

She agreed the document [which she had early access to] makes "extremely sobering reading which absolutely needs to be acted upon."

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She added: "This is not our report so I can't ask for it to be published. It was a report commissioned by the health board and they have to determined what they are going to do."

On May 24, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admitted he was deeply worried about Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB).

Mr Sunak made the comment after Clwyd West MP, David Jones, raised the issue of report with the Prime Minister at PMQs. 

Dyfed Edwards, chair of BCUHB, said: “We are seeking legal advice regarding our ability to share this report and wish to do all that is possible to cooperate with interested parties in a spirit of openness.

"In dealing with such sensitive issues, it is important that we strike an appropriate balance between transparency and the duty of care we have to our staff."