Doubts raised over independence of health watchdog after it moves in with the Welsh Government

Martin Shipton

The independence of a body set up to be the voice of patients has been called into question after its offices were moved into Welsh Government buildings.

In April 2023 Llais [the Welsh word for Voice] was set up to replace the seven Community Health Councils [CHCs] in Wales.

According to its own website, Llais is “an independent statutory body established by the Welsh Government to give the people of Wales a greater say in the planning and delivery of their health and social care services at the local, regional and national levels”.

Its remit was to take over from the CHCs the role of advocating for citizens, with additional powers to influence both NHS and social care services.

However, a decision to embed Llais in Welsh Government offices has prompted one of its own employees to claim that the body’s independence has been compromised.

‘Terrible leadership’

Using the pseudonym James Thomas, the employee told Nation.Cymru: “I work for Llais, the Welsh Government/NHS body set up in 2023, costing over £8m per year. It’s not a good place to work, terrible leadership from the Welsh Gov appointed leaders in the National Team (which I am in).

“A big debate in Llais is their ‘independence” from WG, the word is all over every press release, web page and document. Of course, it’s not true at all. Funded by, and told what to look into by WG Ministers. What’s worse, Llais’s head office has recently moved. Guess where to? To Welsh Government offices! Leaders in the National Team, most of whom come from Welsh Gov, are now literally sitting next to, and paying rent to their WG bosses.

“One of the comms officers has made a ‘monumental cock up’ in the words of the Comms Director. The aim was to move into these offices and for nobody to find out. However, when changing the contact address on the website, the Comms Officer put ‘Welsh Government Buildings’. (you can see the web archive here). After the angry emails from the leaders to the comms officer responsible, they changed the contact address for the main page.

“What’s more, it’s not just the national team that’s moved. The West Wales teams, and Cardiff teams have been forced to move too – guess where to? Other Welsh Government buildings. Better still, they’ve forgotten to remove ‘Welsh Government Buildings’ from the website in these areas. If you look at the local offices for West Wales and Cardiff here they show as WG buildings. My bet is the Comms Director hasn’t noticed. If it were to be highlighted, and how it raises questions about their independence, it’ll be changed very quickly.

“This isn’t my real email/name. There would be big problems if I were to openly criticise, so I have to be discreet.”

Important

We asked both Llais and the Welsh Government to respond.

A spokesperson for Llais said:” Llais takes its independence very seriously as we know how important it is to the people we represent.

“Our Board provides strategic direction, scrutiny, assurance and oversight. We’re here to serve people across Wales and are accountable for how we work.

“Some of our teams have recently moved into shared public buildings alongside other public and independent organisations. The Welsh Government owns some of these buildings. These arrangements help ensure value for money and accessibility, where we’re based doesn’t affect how we set our priorities or carry out our role; that is shaped by what people tell us.

“In line with some other tenants, we recently updated the address for our national office to avoid any potential confusion, given that the Welsh Government owns the building.

“Our focus remains on listening to people locally, regionally, and nationally and making sure their voices help shape better health and social care services across Wales.”

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: “Llais does an important job in representing patient voices across Wales and remains fully independent in its operations, governance and functions.

“Llais is accountable to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and there is no direction given from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on the priorities or areas of focus for Llais.

“The decision to co-locate in shared public sector buildings delivers better value for the Welsh taxpayer but has no bearing on Llais’ decision-making processes.”