BETSI Cadwaladr University Health Board reduced its annual overspend by £16.7 million last year.
According to the latest annual report it was also the second best health board in Wales for the percentage of GP surgeries that achieved the National Access Standards for in-hours medical services.
The report stated that 99% of GPs met the required standard for high-quality care, timely access to services and fair access for all patients. Four years ago BCUHB – the organisation that manages health services across North Wales – was Wales’ worst performing board for GP access.
In the financial section of the report BCUHB was reported to have overspent it’s 2.3 billion revenue budget for 2023/24 by £7.6m. That is a breach of its first financial duty – to break even – but represents a huge improvement on the previous year where it overspent its revenue budget by £24.3 million.
The figure was also £1m less than the additional spending figure approved by Welsh Government for BCUHB according to its newly-published annual report.
The report also highlighted significant infrastructure investment, including a new orthopaedic hub at Llandudno Hospital and community-based health facilities in Bangor and Denbigh.
While there were improvements in general practice and financial governance, the report highlighted some critical challenges BCUHB needed to address in the coming year.
For example the number of accident and emergency patients across the region spending less than four hours in the Emergency Department (ED) fell from 54.2% the previous year to 49.6% in 23/24.
The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in the ED rose by more than 4,000 over the year, with the number who waited more than 24 hours also increased by more than 4,000.
In terms of waiting lists BCUHB made significant inroads to reduce the number of patients waiting two years or more for treatment, however It still has work to do to reduce the number of those waiting 52 weeks or more – which rose by 10,550 over the last 12 months.
Chief executive Carol Shillabeer told board members: “We’re two years into an improvement journey and process as a board.
“This report is a marker on where we are on that journey and where we will be at this time next year.
“We are improving our financial governance, that’s clear. There are signs we are improving organisational governance as a board and in a wider context as well.
“Twelve months from now hope we will see further improvements from where we are now.”
Outside of the financial aspects, Ms Shillabeer said the next year would see the board turn its focus to those areas where patients had yet to see improvements in care – such as waiting times.
“We’ll be pointing at those areas where we have yet to really turn the dial in the most significant way for patients,” she said.
“That continues to be our key focus, particularly around access to services and people waiting too long to receive care.”
BCUHB chairman Dyfed Edwards acknowledged the progress made to improve the board’s financial position, but agreed that more work was needed to improve services alongside that.
“We’ve done excellent work around the governance and finances which is really important for how the organisation goes about our business,” he said.
“But most people don’t see that, or they only see it when something goes wrong.
“The building blocks are in place but we need to address the issues around performance that the report highlights and much of that is about access to services.
“People are really impresses with the treatment they receive according to the feedback we get and they are impressed with the kindness of our staff and services.
“But it’s actually getting the service in the first place, that is the huge challenge. Everything we do in the next 12 months we hope will address that.
“There’s no quick fix, these things take time and for things to change everything must change. It’s not just about trying to fix one thing, everything has got to change.”
