Welsh health minister rejects claims of systemic failings in the NHS

Welsh health minister rejects claims of systemic failings made by a former NHS manager who moved to England so her husband could be treated for cancer

• Professor Siobhan McClelland said the Welsh NHS is flawed from top to bottom 
• She added its policy making failures were directly affecting patient care
• Previously worked in the Welsh Ambulance Service and a university health board

Wales’ Health Secretary has rejected claims of systemic failings in the country’s NHS.

A former NHS manager is moving from Wales to England so her husband can receive prostate cancer treatment after claiming she has lost faith in her nation’s healthcare system.

Professor Siobhan McClelland previously held top positions in the Welsh Ambulance Service and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.

But she is fleeing the country, claiming flaws in the Welsh NHS is affecting everything from diagnosis rates to patient care. 

Cabinet secretary for Health Vaughan Gething has hit back at her claims, saying he ‘does not accept her system-wide criticism’, adding other patients have not had her same experience.

Former Welsh NHS manager Professor Siobhan McClelland is moving to England so her husband can receive cancer treatment after claiming she lost faith in her nation’s healthcare

Speaking of her and her husband’s ordeal, Professor McClelland told The Sunday Times: ‘We have put our house on the market and are planning to move away.

‘We’ve lost confidence and trust in the healthcare system here — not the staff. The healthcare system here is a key factor in our decision to move.

She added there was ‘neither capacity or sufficient capability’ in the Welsh Government to be making ‘really good health policy’.

‘We have a void in the Welsh Government where robust, rigorous innovative heath policy should be made,’ she said.

Professor McClelland claimed her husband experienced delays in getting appointments and being seen by diagnostic services, which caused ‘unimaginable stress’.

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One of his scans was even misread, which resulted in the spread of his cancer not being recognised, she claimed. 

Her local health board Hywel Dda has since apologised. 

Health has been devolved in Wales since 1999, meaning its NHS is run by the Welsh government in Cardiff. 

Although Professor McClelland claimed she does not doubt the dedication of Wales’ NHS staff, she added its government needs to invest more in cancer care.

Her comments have caused a row in Wales, with the Plaid Cymru heath spokesman, Rhun ap Iorwerth, telling the Welsh Parliament Professor McClelland’s words were ‘as damning an indictment as you could hear of your running of the Welsh NHS’.

Mr ap Iorwerth claimed more than £500m has been invested into health and social care.

Although ‘on the face of it good news’ he worries this money will be use ‘to plug gaps…£100m here, £200m there’.

He then stressed the importance of a long-term plan to avoid a ‘black hole of financial mismanagement’. 

Cabinet secretary for Health Vaughan Gething has hit back at her claims, saying he ‘does not accept her system-wide criticism’ and that other patients have not had her same experience

But Vaughan Gething rejected claims of a greater problem, telling Wales Online: ‘I am, of course, sorry that Prof McClelland has cause to complain about the care her husband has received.

‘I’m also sorry she feels the need to change where they live. But I don’t accept the system-wide criticism she makes of the National Health Service here in Wales.

‘Every patient understands their own individual experiences. When I look at what the system-wide reviews have shown, along with the OECD review, they did not suggest that there was a system-wide problem as described by Prof McClelland.

‘And if you look at the more recent Parliamentary independent review, that every party in this chamber agreed to, they did not agree with the criticisms that are being made here.

Mr Gething added he is committed to delivering ‘A Healthier Wales’; the joint plan for health and social care. 

The Welsh NHS has received criticism for many years for failing to meet its targets.

In 2016 a report by the UK Parliament found Wales was failing on the speed of cancer referrals.

The report also also criticised the time it took to complete basic diagnostic tests.

And Professor McClelland is not the first NHS boss to leave the country over cancer care.

Mary Burrows, who ran Cadwaladr University health board in North Wales, moved to England for the same reason before dying shortly after she began treatment at the Royal Marsden, London.

The health board that covers Pembrokeshire, where Professor McClelland lived, overspent by £70m last year and plans to close two A&E departments at hospitals in Hatherfordwest and one in the neighbouring county Carmarthenshire.

Closure of these departments means the nearest general hospital would be and hour-and-a-half drive away from the west coast.

According to the board, there are plans to build a new hospital, however, no funding or site has been allocated.

Mandy Rayani, the director of nursing at Hwel Dda, said it strives to provide the very highest standards of care and on this occasion it ‘failed to meet them’.

She added the organisation has ‘put in a number of measures to avoid anything like this happening again’.   

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