Commenting on the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee’s report into ‘Health Finances 2012-13 and beyond’, Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member, Aled Roberts, said:
“This report does not make happy reading, but reflects the evidence that we heard as a committee. Wales’ NHS remains under an immense amount of pressure and its financial situation remains unsustainable.
“I continue to believe that the postponement of elective surgery at the end of last year at multiple hospitals was at least in part due to health boards desperately trying to break even. Indeed, the Auditor General acknowledged that NHS bodies reduced or delayed activity to make financial savings.
“While the move to three year budgets is welcome, it is vital that the Welsh Labour government properly oversees health boards’ financial plans to ensure they are robust. It is also important that health boards have detailed contingency plans in place so that they are properly prepared and so that patient safety is never put at risk.
“As a committee, we are calling on the Welsh Labour government to hold senior NHS and health board management to account more rigorously, to ensure transparency of financial decisions. It is simply not right that health boards continue to fail to break even, and the cycle of bail outs cannot continue.”
