Betsi Cadwaladr: Consultant calls for stability at troubled health board

A consultant has called for stability at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board after it was placed in special measures for the second time.

All board members were asked to quit by Health Minister Eluned Morgan, triggering a row over the process.

Chest specialist Dr Stephen Kelly from Wrexham Maelor Hospital said there had been "almost constant restructuring" in Welsh health boards during his career.

He said morale was low as working conditions became more difficult.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales, Dr Kelly - who also chairs the BMA's Welsh consultants' committee - expressed frustration with repeated change during his 20 years as a consultant.

"Every few years, maybe three, four years, we have new leaders in potentially with good ideas, they change round their structures of health boards, then after three or four years they move on and the process starts again," he said.

"What we would call for is stability, knowing how we can develop our services."

He described how practices had deteriorated over time.

Dr Kelly added: "Working conditions have become gradually and progressively more difficult over the years.

"For example when I first started I used to see patients on call in the medical admissions unit, then started to see them in the emergency department, then in a waiting room, then over this winter I start seeing people in the back of ambulances.

"Morale is low because our working conditions have become more and more difficult."

He has called for stability to enable staff to develop clinical services, and has asked for leaders not to move as often and not be "sometimes a little distant".

"Perhaps it's the size of health boards, and in such big structures, well-meaning people are sometimes so far from the shop floor, and that's where the changes are made," he said.

Denbighshire council leader Jason McLellan said the audit report which triggered the board members' departures was shocking, and said local residents "deserve much, much better than this".

He added: "They deserve a health board which is run by a functional board."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said Mr McLellan made it clear the focus of the report was the executive team's leadership.

"It is in no way a reflection on the brilliant, dedicated, and hard-working staff of the health board," he told a meeting of Denbighshire council.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board did not wish to comment.

Health minister Eluned Morgan previously said in a statement: "I have serious concerns around the performance of the health board and I have not seen the improvement in services I expect for the people of north Wales."