Betsi Cadwaladr health board: Concern at dropped fraud probe

Ex-independent members of north Wales' health board are "flabbergasted" that a fraud probe into the body has been dropped, a Senedd committee has heard.

Specialist investigators concluded last month that no further action was needed after auditors discovered £122m was not properly accounted for.

One ex-board member said an accountancy firm had found a "range of financial irregularities".

NHS Counter Fraud Wales and the Welsh government were asked for comment.

Two independent members of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have spoken for the first time, at a Senedd committee meeting on Wednesday, since they were forced to resign by Health Minister Eluned Morgan.

John Gallanders and John Cunliffe told Senedd members they were called to a meeting without being told why, and were presented with a choice of resigning or being dismissed.

One of the members said they believed they were sacked because they were asking questions of senior officials at Betsi Cadwaladr.

NHS Counter Fraud Wales dropped its investigation into Wales' largest health board in April.

The probe followed work by accountancy and consultancy firm EY, also known as Ernst and Young, prompted by auditors' concerns that £122m of expenditure was not properly accounted for.

EY's report is yet to be made public.

BBC Wales was told last year that none of the issues that were investigated involved anyone making personal gain.

John Gallanders told the Senedd Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee that it was independent members that had brought in EY in to conduct an independent review of the board's finances.

Mr Gallanders said: "As independent members we were absolutely flabbergasted at that statement [of] no further action from NHS counter fraud, when items within the Ernst and Young report quite clearly shows a range of financial irregularities of a significant amount."

He said that was "not just within Betsi but potentially reached into other departments across the NHS in Wales, other health boards and in fact straight into the Welsh government itself".

John Cunliffe said the Ernst and Young report "is something that should be released", and the fact the counter fraud investigation is not being pursued "needs to be examined".

"Because that feels uncomfortable, given what we knew and where we were."

Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru MS for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, said he understands that the report says funds were transferred from one financial year to another in a way that did not "correlate" with the rules of the time.

John Cunliffe, who said he had not seen the report, said: "My understanding is that there is a potential issue for fraudulent activity. But without the detail of that, and without the counter fraud investigation, that it is difficult to judge how far that goes."

Ms Morgan asked the independent board members to resign in February after the publication of a highly critical audit report, and when she put Betsi back into special measures.

The report said the working relationship between independent members and executive directors - who both sit on the board of the organisation - had broken down.

It had been highly critical of the senior executives, saying the team was dysfunctional.

Describing the meeting where independent members were asked to quit, Mr Cunliffe said independent members had been "summoned" to a meeting with the minister at Welsh government offices in Llandudno Junction "without any understanding of why we were there".

"We were put in a position of having to resign or be fired without any understanding of why."

He said despite requests no evidence was provided for what the minister was relying on.

Mr Gallanders said it was "made absolutely clear that if we didn't resign we would actually be dismissed".

After the minister finished her presentation she left the meeting, the committee was told. An official came in six minutes before she returned, providing a draft of a dismissal letter "covering the dismissal points".

"I think it's fair to say that we were completely wrong-footed as to the purpose of the meeting," he said.

Mr Cunliffe told the committee the minister told the independent board members they had "failed to take the next step".

"She wasn't clear about what the next step was and seemed to fail to understand that we have no power to do anything around the issues that have been raised around the performance of the executive team," he said.

Mr Cunliffe later told the committee that there were "significant issues with some executives".

He added: "No action was taken against the executive team. It doesn't feel like it has been a fair process at all."

He also raised concerns that there "isn't effective governance of the organisation - the committee are not running. The scrutiny and the questioning isn't happening."

Mr Gallanders said the Welsh government "would probably have had 11 constructive unfair dismissal cases lodged against them" had the 11 board members been employees.

Ms Morgan has faced pressure to take action against executives of the board.

She has said she does not have the power to do so, although she has said she read the "riot act" to some of them.

At the committee meeting Auditor General Adrian Crompton said that Ms Morgan could remove executives from the organisation's board.

He said he was not a lawyer, but added: "The minister does have a power to remove any member of a health board, including executive members from the board itself."

But he added: "That's not the same as removing an executive from their substantive role."