Responding to today’s news that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board [BCUHB] has been fined £250,000 after admitting safety failures following the deaths of elderly patients, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has said it is not right that those who fail to do their jobs should be able to get away Scot-free.    

Three patients suffered falls at two of the health board's hospitals, with two of the deaths blamed directly on the falls.

BCUHB pleaded guilty to failing to ensure as far as reasonably practicable that patients - including Richard Hughes, 84, Gwilym Williams, 74, and Nancy Read, 93 - were not exposed to risks to their health and safety on or before January 7, 2023 arising from falls in hospital.

Commenting, Darren said: 

“It is totally unacceptable that senior NHS staff who fail to do their jobs are able to get away Scot-free when things go wrong.

“Families who have lost loved ones as a result of these failings will rightly be asking why people haven’t been sacked for what happened.

“The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board will now be shelling our £250k in a fine for a corporate failings that it could and should have been spending on preventing falls and improving patient care.”