Failings Within North Wales Vascular Services - #BCUHB

The Extraordinary Meeting of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board held on the 21st May, 2020, to discuss the Review of its Vascular Services was a complete shambles.

From the 'technical' difficulties experienced through to the final decision by the Board to review the Review. Were part of the technical difficulties caused by some Board Members complaining they were not comfortable being on screen for the meeting ?

The Report - described as a whitewash by members of the public and some employees - is highly critical of the Health Board and its decision to close the vascular services at Ysbyty Gwynedd and centralise the service at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

The Review raises many questions for diabetics and renal patients and some of the data for limb loss and antibiotic use should be of high concern for everyone.

Ultimately, it is yet another report into Local Government Organisations in North Wales that raises issues of bullying and staff fearing for their jobs if they speak out.

Sitting on the Board from Gwynedd are R. Medwyn Hughes, County Councillor for the Hendre ward, Bangor and Morwena Edwards, who is an Associate Director of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

Morwena is also the Director of Cyngor Gwynedd Social Services - both Adult and Children's Departments.
 
There have been 5 Ombudsman for Wales Investigations highly critical of the departments that Mrs Edwards has overall responsibility for - in the last four years

There may be more as these Departments have a history of sitting on critical Reports, whilst trumpeting mediocrity.

One Ombudsman's Report highlights an Independent Investigating Officer feeling 'overwhelmed' and 'bullied' after a meeting with Head of Department, Marian Parry Hughes and the senior Operational Manager. Aled Gibbard amongst others to change the findings of her Report.

More on that here -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/2019/06/bullying-cyngor-gwynedd-council.html

Four to five pages regarding a Social Worker undertaking an inadequate assessment of an autistic child's needs and the withholding and censoring of personal information by a senior manager deleted along with Recommendations for improvement.

To someone with no knowledge everything looks rosy in the garden - the data is false.

Recommendations for improvement and to create a pathway for autistic individuals to receive support and SS assessment have been agreed to - so where is it ?

Concerns that the legal documents and data are being manipulated to cover for bad behaviour and poor management have been raised with a Cabinet Member but as yet no response has been forthcoming.

Now the Ombudsman for Wales had arranged a phone call conversation with the Director, Morwena Edwards, to discuss matters of non compliance of Ombudsman's recommendations.

This call was arranged three weeks in advance but the Council cancelled the meeting one hour before the arranged time and the Council told the Ombudsman that they would be sending a letter instead.

This letter did obviously not impress the Ombudsman as the CEO was then summoned to discuss non compliance - alongside other agenda items, in Cardiff.

Concerns have been raised that the story as explained by the CEO and the Senior Safeguarding Officer to a Gwynedd Care Scrutiny Committee is misleading. Questions have been asked concerning the truthfulness of the Officer's statements but no answer has been forthcoming.

Officer's promoted above their abilities ? A social worker being moved to a third sector organisation to protect reputations ? - and their pension ? Social workers lying and senior managers colluding in cover up ?

All that is missing is a sex scandal..... 

Something is very wrong within both Gwynedd Council and BCUHB.

Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Sorry Not Sorry.

The letter of apology from the Chief Executive of Cyngor Gwynedd, Dilwyn Williams, made me think of all the other Mea Culpa's we have received in the past four years.

We have not yet replied to Mr William's letter as we await confirmation that the 'recommendations' of the Ombudsman have been completed. Cyngor Gwynedd have a history of non compliance in this case, with 'recommendations' made by independent investigators and even those of the Ombudsman for Wales.

Gwynedd Council agreed to implement the Ombudsman's latest 'recommendations' within three months. Those three months are now up.

The CEO apologised for the failing to update a child's CIN plan - surely the responsibility for the Director of Gwynedd Social Services, Morwena Edwards. But the apology from the CEO may be more sincere considering it took Mrs Edwards 5 months to officially respond to our Stage 2 complaint - badly. The Ombudsman for Wales 2019 Report calls her decision to then reverse her thinking after the publication of the Ombudsman's 2018 Report 'illogical'.

There has also been an apology from Head of Children and Families, Marian Parry Hughes.

Once again, the sincerity of this apology is in question as Mrs Hughes was the most senior manager at the meeting with the Independent Investigator who reported she felt 'overwhelmed' and 'bullied' after completing her investigation.

Mrs Hughes also played a major part in the case of a Gwynedd social worker in which the social worker raised bullying by her manager, at a recent Employment Tribunal - the case can be found here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5cf61dd7e5274a0771578036/1600022.2017_Mr_S_Parry_v_Gwynedd_Council_-_CORRECTED_JUDGMENT_AND_REASONS.pdf

Copy and past the address into your browser.

This Tribunal makes mention of Sharron Williams Carter -  who was also in attendance at the meeting with the Independent Investigator of our Stage 2 complaint.

Sharron Williams Carter was also the senior officer tasked with carrying out the 'recommendations' from the Independent Investigation way back in 2010 that was highly critical of senior management. The 'recommendations' were not implemented.

Apologies from the CEO included him apologising on behalf of Melvin Panther. The same manager whose emails about us were censored and withheld. More on that here - https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/2018/09/cyngor-gwynedd-councils-report-into.html

Mr Panther was the manager of the disabled social worker who took Gwynedd  Council to the Employment Tribunal.

We have also received an apology from Senior Operational Manager, Aled Gibbard.

Mr Gibbard has also featured in this blog before - badly handling another complaint. More -
https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/2017/05/gwynedd-councils-secure-letterbox-not.html

Mr Gibbard was also present at the meeting in which the Investigator felt 'overwhelmed' and 'bullied'.

Delyth Davies - whose inadequate assessment of a child's needs was the main issue of the Stage 2 complaint was also present at this meeting.

Now the Ombudsman for Wales was given evidence that a social worker had lied to Investigators during the investigation and that the authors of the Directors response letter were aware of this deception.

A draft response letter that had Director, Morwena Edwards, asking the two authors - "What if the Ombudsman sees this..."

Marian Parry Hughes has just authored and presented to Council the Complaints Handling Report. Her Report makes nothing of her Department's annus horribilis. For her it is like nothing happened at all. Not even a nod in the direction of the Ombudsman who refers to the number of inaccurate references to legislation that she as Head of the Children and Families Department had made.

It is the same with the Director's of Social Services Annual Report 2019 - 'move along - nothing to see here'.
So how are County Councillors informed of the systemic failings found within Gwynedd Children and Families Department and their mishandling of complaints, year upon year ?

We have informed various committee members...and they choose to remain silent and do nothing.

What of Dilwyn Morgan, Cabinet member responsible for the Children and Families Department ? He has still not responded to us after being sent a copy of the Ombudsman's Report in June.
 
Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council.

Bullying ? - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

A meeting was arranged by Cyngor Gwynedd Council's customer care officer to discuss with the Investigator what the Council claimed were factual inaccuracies within the Complaint Report and to seek clarity.

We had asked Dafydd Paul, the Senior Manager Safeguarding and Quality, if we could attend this meeting but were rebuffed - "This is not a meeting where you are invited".

The Independent Person, with a duty to oversee the Investigation process in the interests of the child, was NOT present at this meeting.

Senior Management Team members in attendance were -

                             Marian Parry Hughes.
                             Aled Gibbard
                             Sharron Williams Carter
                                    
Senior Social worker, Delyth Davies and Lowri Williams were also present.

The Head of Children's Services, Marian Parry Hughes, begins by accepting the meeting is "...unusual however the Stage 2 is complex and felt a face to face meeting would be beneficial"

 and goes on to say.....

"The meeting was not to try and influence the outcome of the report in anyway"
Cough.

One of the main reasons given by the Senior Management Team for not accepting the Investigator's original report was that it contained factual inaccuracies.

Yet the 2019 Ombudsman for Wales Report highlights the fact that -

"On the evidence before me, bearing in mind the Council has not identified anything specific by way of ‘inaccuracies’, despite ample opportunity to do so..."

It was at this meeting (referred to in the Ombudsman's Report) that the Investigating Officer felt "bullied" and "overwhelmed."

It is a concern that with so many senior officers present no official minutes were taken during this meeting.(An email from Lowri Williams that contained notes and comments on the meeting was received through a Subject Access Request).

Comments from Aled Gibbard have also been noted but that is for another post.

The final, final Report was at least 4 pages shorter than the first one, a report that highlighted an inadequate assessment of a vulnerable child's needs and failure to maintain the child's CIN plan. Prior references to 'risk' and 'need' were also absent, along with recommendations.

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd Council.

Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Smoke and Mirrors.

I have just come across this report authored by Marian Parry Hughes and dated the 18th July, 2017.

It is the annual report on the handling of complaints by the Children and Family Support Department of Gwynedd Council for 2016/17.

https://democracy.cyngor.gwynedd.gov.uk/documents/s13016/Item%206%20-%20Appendix%203%20-%20Report%20on%20the%20Councils%20Complaints%20and%20Service.pdf

Unlike the report last year authored by Margaret Kenealy Jones, this report has not been used to revise history nor used as a vehicle to whitewash unprofessional behaviour and systemic failings within the children's department of Cyngor Gwynedd and this is to be welcomed.

Saying that the report does appear to have some glaring ommissions and anoma-lies -

"Over the years, the Customer Care Officer have successfully managed to establish close working links with the teams, managers and the legal section as a means of discussing and resolving issues. This is reflected in the low number of complaints reaching Stage 2 of the Complaints Procedure.

It is fair to say that there has been a clear trend over the past 3 years, that theChildren and Family Support Department have not had a complaint escalate toStage 2. This is down to the professionalism the Team Managers and SeniorManagers show when dealing with complainants; they understand theimportance of a local resolution and by discussing directly with the complainant they are able to address matters as soon as possible..."


Er...but Mrs Hughes there is a stage 2 complaint ongoing against Children and Family Support Department raised on the 25th May and due for completion any day now. Why has the complaint not been included in your report figures ?
I notice the Adult services acknowledge there is an ongoing stage 2 investigation and though not completed is included in their figures.

Marian Parry Hughes also crows that the department have had no complaint escalate to stage 2 over the past three years.

But that is down to one senior manager, Aled Gibbard, closing a complaint - without informing the complainant and your department refusing to escalate another complaint to the second stage, hence the intervention of the Ombudsman.

And knowing that to then go on and write -

"In comparison with other Local Authorities in North Wales, it is understood that Gwynedd have been successful in managing complaints at Stage 1 whereas other Local Authorities have a higher proportion of complaints progress to Stage 2".

and diss the conduct of other LA's in Wales is...distasteful to say the least.

Gwynedd Department Head Finally Responds To AM.

The Assembly Member for Arfon, Sian Gwenllian, emailed me on the 5th July and sent me a copy of the long overdue response from Marian Parry Hughes, Head of Children and Families at Gwynedd Council.

See my post of the 4th July for more detail -

 https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/arfon-am-ignored-by-gwynedd-head-of.html 

Mrs Hughes begins by apologising for not responding to the AM and states  -

"It certainly wasn't deliberate on my part."

So what was the reason for ignoring the AM for three months then ?

Mrs Hughes goes on to explain that Sharron Carter, Senior Operational Manager, had responded to the solicitor by letter and answered all relevant questions - in March.

The solicitor - after searching their files - state they have not received a letter from Sharron Williams Carter, from the date in question.

And if they had I would not have asked the AM - in April - for help in getting a response now - would I ?

I include a link to my post where Cyngor Gwynedd lost another important letter - one that had been placed in their secure letterbox in the Caernarfon office addressed to Aled Gibbard.

https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/gwynedd-councils-secure-letterbox-not.html

How many letters do Gwynedd Council lose every year ? 
 

Sian, I am very grateful for your help in eliciting a response, finally, from the Department Head.

I am also very concerned that you were ignored by a council employee for three months.

A Missing Letter, An MP And A Support Team(!). Gwynedd.

And a quick recap....

A stage 2 complaint from 2010 showing serious failings in the Children and Families Department at Cyngor Gwynedd was upheld by Independent Investigators.

From 2014, meetings and decisions made concerning a child's future were being held behind closed doors by managers and a social worker without the knowledge of the parents or professionals involved in the case.
Worse was the fact that a social worker and other professionals were being ignored....as they did not feel the child's needs were being met,

A social worker who acted without thought for the code of ethics that he has agreed to uphold.
Or worse - a social worker who has been instructed by managers to behave so....inappropriately and against the interests of a vulnerable child - the client.
The jury is still out.

A failure of the children and families department to deliver the services granted by Gwynedd social services and when they finally appeared - after having their arm twisted by a solicitor - were shockingly bad.

So bad that a complaint was raised and which Aled Gibbard closed  - against statutory policy - and also without informing anyone !?!?

Kenealy Jones - you said a search was made for the letter to Mr Gibbard he claims he never received. Did you look in the bins ?

I have sighted your email to your colleague, Aled, voicing your concern about where this case could go.

The service(!) provided involved the support worker - yes him of the grunts and no feedback - leaving the client alone in a car when he attended to his own bits and pieces.
You did read the risk assessment, Iolo - yes ?
Is it council policy to leave clients alone when in their care ?

All of this even before I asked the #Plaid_Cymru MP, Liz Saville Roberts for support.
Liz, who shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said "vote for me... and contact me if you ever need help".

MP's tut - some of them will say anything to get your vote.

Gwynedd Council's Secure Letterbox - NOT.

In March 2016, a letter addressed to an Aled Gibbard (Senior Operational Manager) at Cyngor Gwynedd was hand delivered to #SiopGwynedd at the Caernarfon offices and placed in their secure letterbox.

It contained confidential and sensitive information relating to an Official Complaint and raised questions in response to a letter from Aled Gibbard dated 11th March.

Mr Gibbard, was dealing with the complaint himself, and, even though repeated reference was made to this letter, alleges the letter was never received.

Margaret Kenealy Jones, refused to acknowledge that hand delivering a letter to Cyngor Gwynedd shop in Caernarfon and physically dropping it into their secure(?) letterbox means it was delivered and... "We have conducted a search; unfortunately this has come back negative....we do not feel that failing to respond to a letter which we did not receive warrants...investigation.

How many letters to the council posted in the secure letterbox get lost each year ?

Months later, Kenealy assured me in a letter that if the letter was to be re-presented Aled Gibbard would answer the points raised.

Is that offer still available, Mrs Jones ?