Jeremy Miles MS, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Following discussions with the Chief Statistician, the publication of referral to treatment (RTT) waiting times for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is being suspended, pending the outcome of an external investigation into the quality and governance of its data, which I am announcing today.
This action is necessary due to concerns about the accuracy of RTT data submitted by the health board in recent months. These concerns include anomalies in the reported waiting list size and inconsistencies with operational activity levels, which undermine confidence in the reliability of their information.
The investigation will look at the data relating to planned care only. It will not include data relating to cancer, diagnostics, therapies or urgent and emergency care as no inconsistencies have been found here to date.
I want to be clear this review is about the quality and management of data, not about the quality of patient care nor about how long people are waiting for care in North Wales.
To ensure public confidence in official statistics, I have commissioned a comprehensive review of the quality and governance of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s RTT data, which will be led by experts from:
- Digital Health and Care Wales
- NHS Wales Performance and Improvement
- The Chief Statistician’s team in Welsh Government
- A peer expert from another Welsh health board
The review will start immediately and will examine the health board’s data collection, quality assurance, and reporting processes, and will make recommendations to strengthen governance and assurance arrangements. We want to restore trust and accurate reporting as quickly as possible, with the aim of resuming publication of the official statistics by the next scheduled statistical release.
However, the primacy of data quality and integrity will take precedence over timing.
In the interim, the Chief Statistician has decided the RTT statistics will be published but without data from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
The Office for Statistics Regulation has been informed of this decision.
These steps build on the additional support announced previously to improve access and timeliness of planned and emergency care in North Wales. The provision of additional senior support will begin immediately. However, without reliable data, improvement cannot be measured or sustained.
I will update Members about the outcome of the review and the steps being taken to ensure robust data governance in Beti Cadwaladr University Health Board.