Health Secretary launches public accountability meetings for NHS Wales

Health Secretary Jeremy Miles has announced a new series of public meetings with NHS organisations across Wales, designed to increase transparency and improve public confidence in the health service.

The meetings, which will be broadcast online, will allow people to watch discussions between the Cabinet Secretary and health leaders about how the NHS is being run.

Each session will cover how organisations are meeting waiting time targets, their financial outlook, and the quality and safety of services.

The first meeting will take place on Thursday 23 October with Cwm Taf University Health Board.

Further meetings will follow with all other health boards, as well as Velindre University NHS Trust, Digital Health and Care Wales, Health Education and Improvement Wales, Public Health Wales and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust. All are scheduled to be completed by March 2026.

Scrutiny

Jeremy Miles said the move was part of a commitment to “open the doors” of the NHS to greater scrutiny.

“I’ve organised these meetings as I want to improve accountability and transparency in the NHS,” he said. “I want people to have confidence in the standards of healthcare and the performance of health organisations where they live. I want to open the doors to the NHS and increase confidence in the system.”

The new meetings are part of a wider package of measures aimed at improving openness and accountability.

The Welsh Government says more NHS performance data is now published than ever before, including a quarterly report on how health boards are performing against emergency and planned care targets, alongside monthly provisional figures on the longest waits.

The Welsh Ambulance Service’s clinical model has also been reformed to include what is described as “more meaningful outcome-based measures”.

NHS complaints

Last week, the Senedd approved regulations to reform the NHS complaints and redress system.

Listening to People, the new initiative, is designed to support greater openness when things go wrong.

Meanwhile, all NHS organisations are now required to collect patient feedback on services.  improvements.

Mr Miles added: “If we’re going to improve the NHS in Wales, we need to ensure organisations are open and honest, use data to improve their performance and make this publicly available, and listen to people who use their services and can learn from their mistakes.”