Urgent Question: Tawel Fan

Janet Finch-Saunders

Deputy Minister, when the issue of the Tawel Fan report was announced here, I think it’s fair to say this Chamber was in great shock. I certainly had confidence that you were actually going to go in there and make a difference, along with the new acting chief executive. We heard from one lady, whose late brother was a Tawel Fan patient for nine months, that communication was poor and that she was sent an invitation by letter that had been sent to the wrong address, arriving two days after the meeting had happened. These people want redress and they want accountability, but I can tell you now the whole system within Betsi Cadwaladr is an absolute nightmare for families. In other departments within that trust.
I can tell you now, I attended a multidisciplinary meeting a second one with a grieving family only recently, only to find that members of staff and officers who should have been there weren’t present, to find that promised recorded notes would have been available and that for the days that that person had been in hospital, the nursing records had been omitted. Now, we’ve just received another letter for another meeting asking the family, ‘Who would you like to be present at the meeting?’ and that is just one example of many. The complaints system is burning away quite merrily. You write in now and you get a standard letter saying, ‘I’m afraid this complaint will not be dealt with within the usual 30 days’, then it goes on to two months, to three months, and I’ve got complaints going on I’ve even had one going on two years. The whole thing is an absolute disgrace. I want you as a Deputy Minister and the Minister to accept some responsibility, but I can’t see any difference today to procedures over the way we’re dealing with constituents on their behalf. There is nothing going on of any meaningful worth since you intervened. I think you should be held responsible for this and kept busy over the summer.

Vaughan Gething

Well, if there is an individual case that the Member outlines, whether it be unacceptable delays in a response or that communication errors have been made, then the Member should support her constituents and raise it directly with the board. It would be entirely appropriate for her to write to me about that, and I do take all of these matters seriously. I do read the correspondence that we are provided with and the replies that then go out; I take that part of this job very, very seriously. I understand the impact that it has on individuals.
There have been incidents of the patient administration system not being properly up to date and for there to be errors within that. That is clearly not acceptable, and I would not pretend otherwise. I do, though, think that in pursuing entirely legitimate matters with the vigour that every Member of any party should do, we should at the same time recognise that we can go beyond that. And suggesting in fact, stating that nothing meaningful is happening is unfortunate at best. Part of the challenge in Betsi Cadwaladr health board is the uneven nature of service delivery. There are real challenges in the mental health service. That is why it is part of the special measures. But, there is also very real, compassionate, high quality care being delivered day in, day out, and I think every Member in this Chamber should remember that when they pursue issues of entirely legitimate concern, as each and every Member in this Chamber could and should do.