Betsi Cadwaladr: More patient deaths may be linked to treatment

More families have been told by a health board that their relatives' deaths may have been linked to treatment by vascular services.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) has written to families who were part of a review after concerns were raised last year.

Four cases had already been reported to a coroner and the health board says it has been "very open" with relatives of other patients.

It would not confirm how many.

The service has recently been described by inspectors as making "satisfactory progress", but the health board admit it is still on a "long journey".

A report by the Royal College of Surgeons England (RCSE) in January 2022 found risks to patient safety due, in part, to poor record keeping.

It recommended to the health board that it investigate fully what happened to the 47 patients its report focused on.

That work was done by an external review and the health board has this week written to the patients and families involved.

BCUHB medical director Nick Lyons said it was important to "do the right thing by those families and patients".

"We've written to them to share the findings and investigation reports, but perhaps just as importantly to say sorry where we've got things wrong and also to clarify what difference we've made as a result of our investigations."

"Many of the patients are sadly not with us. The reasons are multiple and it wouldn't be fair to comment on that in this arena, but we have been very open with patients where there has been a tragic loss of life."

"Where there has been a death, we've been really clear with families as to why that was and what we've done as a result."

Pressed on how many cases involved a mortality, other than the four previously referred to the coroner, Mr Lyons said: "Because a lot of these patients were more elderly a lot of those patients would not be with us anyway for different reasons, so it wouldn't be right to give a specific number."

Mr Lyons said the findings varied in each case, with some showing "significant failures" in care, while others were "examples of good care".

He added that a part of the discussions with some families were "likely" to involve financial settlement.

Some of the cases dated back to 2014.

Vascular services in north Wales have been under scrutiny since they were reorganised in 2019, with complex services being centralised from Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor and Wrexham Maelor Hospital to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

Last month a report by Health Inspectorate Wales concluded that the health board was making "satisfactory progress" in relation to recommendations made in the RCSE's report last year.

Plaid Cymru's Sian Gwenllian said the news strengthened the calls for a public inquiry.

Welsh Conservatives' Darren Millar said the health board needed to come clean about the number of patients involved.

"Patients, families, and their loved ones deserve to know the extent of the negligence and unnecessary harm that people have endured," he said.

"It is now essential for both the Health and Safety Executive and the police to investigate these matters to determine whether there is a case of criminal negligence to be addressed."