Over half of incidents resulting in death reported by Welsh health boards came from Betsi

More than half of all incidents resulting in death reported by health boards in Wales came from troubled Betsi Cadwaladr. The 53% figure from a Welsh Government safety report came to light during First Minister Questions in the Senedd yesterday.

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said there had been “an alarming rate” of patient safety incidents in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area and that between December 2018 and November 2019 there were 40 incidents resulting in death registered within Betsi. Between November 2017 and November 2019 there were 520 incidents within Betsi that resulted in death or serious harm - higher than all the other health boards in Wales combined.

Mr Price questioned whether there is an issue with Betsi itself, or whether there is an issue of "under-reporting of serious incidents" in the rest of Wales.

Defending the figures, the First Minister said that reporting incidents and learning from them has become part of the culture of a health board that they “want to see everywhere in Wales”.

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Source: North Wales Live, 29 January 2020