Campaign for Responsible Leadership in NHS Wales

They were entrusted with your healthcare.
They built themselves an empire.

Digital Health and Care Wales controls every GP system, every hospital appointment, every prescription in Wales. Nearly £200 million of your money has been spent on their programmes. Not one has been delivered on time. The only return they could demonstrate: £0.5 million in non-cash time savings. And they silenced the people who warned them.

Every claim on this site is drawn from Welsh Government intervention records, Senedd findings, Audit Wales reports, and the leaders' own admissions — on the record, in their own words.

By the numbers

All figures from Senedd proceedings, Audit Wales reports, Welsh Government statements, and DHCW's public accountability meeting of 29 January 2026.

Senedd election: 7 May 2026. Ask your candidates: does DHCW's leadership deserve to continue? Hustings questions →

Evidence now in both Senedd committee systems. Ahead of dissolution, CareNHS shared evidence with MSs across all major parties — including the governing party. At the suggestion of outgoing committee chairs, formal submissions have been received by both the Health and PAPA committee clerking teams. Read more →

Every patient in Wales depends on an organisation you've never heard of

Digital Health and Care Wales is the single organisation behind every GP system, hospital appointment, test result, and prescription in Wales. Its workforce has grown 78% in four years to approximately 1,200 people. It spends in excess of £78 million of public money every year. Identifiable programme costs alone approach £200 million. When it fails, patients wait longer, records go missing, and lives are put at risk.

The Welsh Government placed DHCW under Level 3 intervention — Enhanced Monitoring — for "serious concerns about the ability to deliver major programmes" — across all nine of its biggest projects. The Royal Colleges warned of patient delays. CEO Helen Thomas, when asked whether systems were ready for another pandemic, answered simply: "No."

When pressed on returns for the public's investment, she admitted: "We don't have an ROI on all of our investments." The people of Wales have a right to know what is being done in their name, with their money, by the people they entrust with their healthcare.

Read the full case →

In their own words, on the public record

"We don't have an ROI on all of our investments."
Helen Thomas, Chief Executive, DHCW — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026
"The benefits might be zero by the end. If we'd have known that, we'd have never started."
Welsh Government official, on DHCW programme delays — Public Accountability Meeting, January 2026
"Are we ready for the next one? No."
Helen Thomas, on pandemic preparedness — Digital Health, January 2025
"The culture at NWIS was the antithesis of open."
Welsh Public Accounts Committee, on DHCW's predecessor — November 2018

Read all quotes on record →

This is not bad luck. It is textbook destructive leadership.

DHCW's failures follow patterns so well-documented in leadership science that researchers have given them precise names. When leaders override technical experts, promote loyal allies over competent candidates, punish those who raise problems, and prioritise their own reputations over their mission — the outcome is always the same. Systems deteriorate. Money is wasted. The best people leave. And the people the organisation is meant to serve pay the price.

The Welsh Public Accounts Committee described DHCW's predecessor as "the antithesis of open" in 2018. Staff were afraid to speak. Testimony was choreographed. Eight years later, two senior technologists have allegedly been dismissed for raising concerns the Welsh Government would later confirm. This is not interpretation — it is diagnosis.

The Senedd election is on 7 May 2026. Every candidate should be asked: do you believe DHCW's current leadership has earned the right to continue — and if not, what will you do about it?

Read the diagnosis →    Read the case for change →

We Don't Just Criticise — We Have a Solution

Criticism without constructive alternatives is mere complaint. We have developed a detailed reform blueprint benchmarked against what actually works — in NHS England, in Scotland, in Denmark, in Estonia. Seven solution areas. Every recommendation comes with a concrete mechanism, a named comparator, and a measurable outcome.

World-Class Leadership

Wales's clinicians, engineers, and patients deserve an executive team recruited for proven delivery at scale. CEO, COO, CFO, and Chief Digital Officer through open international competition. An independent oversight board with genuine technical authority. Every appointment verified for qualifications and track record.

Read the proposals →

Fix the Delivery

Adopt the NHS Service Standard with independent assessments. Hard limit of 3-4 active programmes. Automatic "sunlight rule" publication when any programme misses two milestones. Procurement reform with published options appraisals.

Read the proposals →

Fix the Governance

An Independent Technical Advisory Panel modelled on the UK Government's CDDO spend controls. Mandatory publication of all programme costs, contract values, and off-payroll workers. Personal accountability statements for every director.

Read the proposals →

Our full blueprint also covers Culture Reform, Technical Strategy, Benchmarking, and a 90-Day Roadmap.

Explore Our Solution →

Do you know something the public should see?

If you have witnessed failures, waste, misconduct, or the suppression of concerns at DHCW — whether as an employee, contractor, clinician, or member of the public — we want to hear from you. Failed programmes, patient safety incidents, questionable procurement, leadership conduct — anything that troubled you and you didn't know who to tell.

Your identity is protected. We will never reveal who you are without your explicit written consent. You can submit anonymously.

Email: carenhs@carenhs.org

Submit what you know →

Stand With Us

This campaign exists because individuals tried the proper channels and were ignored. It will succeed because enough people decide that the people of Wales deserve to know the truth about how their healthcare is being run.