Commenting on his exchange with the First Minister in the Senedd today, regarding former Betsi Cadwaladr Chair, Mark Polin’s statement, Welsh Conservative Leader Andrew RT Davies MS said:
“Mark Polin, the former Chair of Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, former Chief Constable and a man of integrity, wrote to the Labour Health Minister and the Director General of the health service in September to request support from the Labour Government and escalate the situation.
“He was doing his job, holding the executive to account and giving back to the public he clearly cares deeply about.
“The health board was left to flounder, with both the Health Minister and Director General asleep at the wheel.
“The board was actively undermined by the ‘clandestine’ recruitment of new members weeks before the audit report that the First Minister said triggered their decision to put the health board back into special measures. This story doesn’t add up.
“Let’s not forget that this is a health board that was conveniently taken out of special measures before the 2021 Senedd elections, it is clear now that the Labour Government engages in secrecy, shirks responsibility at every turn and makes decisions based on politics.”