Watchdog says urgent improvements are needed after concerns over leadership, governance and risk management
THE EMERGENCY department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd has again been placed under special improvement measures after a watchdog inspection found serious concerns over how risks are being managed.
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales has designated the department as a Service Requiring Significant Improvement following an unannounced inspection carried out in May 2026.
The watchdog said the decision reflected concerns about leadership, governance and risk management within the emergency department at the Denbighshire hospital.
HIW said the designation means clear and urgent improvement is needed, backed by stronger oversight and accountability.
The department was previously subject to the same arrangements between May 2022 and August 2024.
HIW said the latest designation indicated that improvements made during that period “have not been sustained”.
The full inspection report, setting out detailed findings, is due to be published in September 2026.
‘Clear and urgent improvement’
Alun Jones, Chief Executive of Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, said: “We have designated the Emergency Department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd as a Service Requiring Significant Improvement following concerns about leadership, governance and the management of risk.
“This designation means we expect clear and urgent improvement, supported by stronger oversight and accountability.
“While we recognise the pressures facing emergency departments, services must have effective arrangements in place to manage those pressures safely.
“We will continue to monitor progress closely and will report our full findings in September.”
HIW said it had engaged closely with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board since the inspection and would continue to monitor progress through its Service of Concern process.
This includes structured engagement, agreed actions and ongoing assurance work until inspectors are satisfied that the necessary improvements have been made.
The watchdog stressed that patients who need urgent or emergency care should continue to attend the department.
Political criticism
The Welsh Conservatives said the failure to sustain improvements at Glan Clwyd was a scandal.
Darren Millar MS, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Member of the Senedd for Clwyd, said: “The failure to improve the performance of the Emergency Department at Glan Clwyd Hospital is a scandal and patients are coming to harm as a result.
“The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board first went into special measures back in 2015 yet here we are 11 years later and patients still aren’t getting the services they need.
“While frontline staff are doing their best, it is abundantly clear that the leadership of the Health Board, and the Welsh Government are incapable of turning things around.
“Many of the pressures in the Emergency Department would have been less acute if the previous Welsh Government had delivered on its promise to develop the North Denbighshire Community Hospital in Rhyl.
“That project is more than a decade overdue and plans to half the number of inpatient beds will mean that it won’t have the desired impact.
“The new Welsh Government must commission an urgent independent inquiry into failings in the NHS in North Wales and deliver the new hospital in Rhyl that the people of Denbighshire were originally promised.”
