Vaughan Gething, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
In March 2014, the joint Escalation and Intervention Arrangements were launched. Under these arrangements, the Welsh Government meets the Wales Audit Office and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales twice a year to discuss the overall position of each health board and NHS trust. A wide range of information and intelligence is considered to help identify any issues to help them be resolved effectively.
This statement informs Assembly Members about the outcome of the latest meeting that was held on 5 July 2017.
The framework has 4 escalation levels:
- Routine arrangements
- Enhanced monitoring
- Targeted intervention
- Special measures.
As a result of the discussions, the Welsh Government, Welsh Audit Office and HIW agreed all organisations will remain at their current escalation level as set out in the table at annex 1. I continue to have expectations for improvement from each of the escalated organisations and their progress will continue to be monitored through formal accountability arrangements and discussions with officials.
Following my announcement last September that Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, Cardiff and Vale and Hywel Dda University Health Boards had been escalated to targeted intervention, my officials commissioned Deloitte LLP, through a competitive process, to undertake financial governance reviews of these three organisations. The reviews covered the governance processes these boards adopted for the development, delivery, performance management and reporting of their 2016-17 financial plans. The review teams engaged widely throughout each organisation, including board members, executive directors and operational management. I have now received copies of their final reports, and my officials will task each organisation to prepare an action plan to respond to the review’s recommendations. Progress on delivering these actions will be monitored by my officials through the intervention process I will expect Boards to review the outcomes and proposed response through their public Board meetings. Once they have been completed then, both the Reports and the subsequent responses will be publicly available.