What They Said Themselves

The most powerful evidence against DHCW does not come from external critics, Freedom of Information requests, or leaked documents. It comes from DHCW's own leaders, speaking on the public record — in live-streamed accountability meetings, in published media interviews, in official correspondence, and in Senedd proceedings.

These statements were made voluntarily, by named individuals, in forums where they knew they were being recorded. They cannot be denied, retracted, or dismissed as taken out of context. They are admissions — sometimes inadvertent, sometimes remarkably candid — that reveal an organisation unable to demonstrate the value of its work, unable to deliver its programmes, and unable to say when things will improve.

Every quote below is drawn from publicly available, verifiable sources: Senedd proceedings, Welsh Government published correspondence, live-streamed Public Accountability Meetings, and published media interviews.

On the inability to demonstrate value

"We don't have an ROI on all of our investments."

Helen Thomas, Chief Executive, DHCW — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

DHCW spends in excess of £78 million per year of public money. It has grown its workforce by 25% in recent years. And its own Chief Executive states, on the record, that the organisation cannot calculate the return on investment for the money it spends. This is not a minor operational gap. Return on investment is the fundamental question that any spending body must answer: what did the public get for the money? DHCW cannot say.

"It would be lovely to sit here and be able to demonstrate the value."

Helen Thomas, Chief Executive, DHCW — asked whether 25% workforce growth had produced measurable patient benefit — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

The conditional tense is revealing. It would be "lovely" to demonstrate value. The implication is clear: the organisation cannot. A quarter more staff, consuming millions more in salary costs, and the Chief Executive's best answer to whether this has benefited patients is that she wishes she could show that it had.

"It would be like asking, what are the benefits of having electricity or having water available to run our services?"

Helen Thomas, Chief Executive, DHCW — comparing the difficulty of measuring digital ROI to quantifying the benefits of utility services — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

This analogy was offered as a defence. It is, in fact, a confession. Electricity and water providers can tell you exactly how much they deliver, to whom, at what cost, with what reliability metrics, and with what customer satisfaction scores. They are among the most heavily measured services in the economy. If DHCW's digital services were measured with the same rigour as electricity and water, the organisation would have precisely the data it claims it cannot produce. The comparison was intended to make measurement sound unreasonable. It actually demonstrates that DHCW has not attempted what utility companies do as a matter of routine.

"We're on a journey, we're not where we should be."

Clare Smith, Director of Finance, DHCW — on the organisation's ability to demonstrate the benefits of its spending — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

The metaphor of a "journey" is a standard deflection in organisations that have failed to reach their destination. It implies progress without specifying where the organisation currently is, how far it has to go, or when it expects to arrive. DHCW has existed in its current form since 2021 and its predecessor NWIS operated for over a decade before that. At what point does a "journey" become an admission that the destination is not in sight?

"The organisation remains some distance from being able to consistently quantify return on investment."

Jeremy Miles, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care — Letter to DHCW, 12 February 2026

This is not DHCW's self-assessment. This is the Welsh Government's assessment of DHCW, delivered in formal correspondence by the Cabinet Secretary responsible for the organisation. "Some distance" is civil service language for a serious deficiency. The inability to quantify ROI is not a technical problem — it is a governance failure. An organisation that cannot demonstrate the value of its spending cannot be held accountable for that spending.

On programme delivery failures

"It's been mired in delay, non-delivery."

Nick Wood, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Wales — on the NHS Wales App — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

The NHS Wales App is DHCW's most visible product — the digital front door that the public can see and use. The Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Wales describes it as "mired in delay, non-delivery." These are not the words of an external critic. This is the senior NHS Wales official responsible for overseeing DHCW's delivery, stating that the organisation's flagship product has failed to deliver.

"People are clearly not adopting it, because it's not there for what they want it to be there for."

Nick Wood, Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Wales — on the NHS Wales App — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

Public adoption of digital services is the ultimate measure of whether they work. The Deputy Chief Executive acknowledges that the public is not using the NHS Wales App because it does not do what they need it to do. After years of development and millions in expenditure, the product does not meet its users' needs. This is not a technical failure. It is a product failure — a failure to understand and deliver what the public actually needs.

"I think it's really hard to put a time point on when we'll hit that critical mass."

Sam Hall, Director, DHCW — on when the NHS Wales App will achieve sufficient functionality for meaningful public adoption — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

When pressed on timelines, DHCW's own director cannot offer a date, a target, or even a range. The organisation does not know when its flagship product will work well enough for people to use it. This is an admission that DHCW has no credible delivery plan for the NHS Wales App — or at least not one that its own director is willing to commit to in public.

"I think that's a bit of a gap at the moment."

Helen Thomas, Chief Executive, DHCW — on the NHS Wales App roadmap — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

The Chief Executive describes the roadmap for DHCW's most important public-facing product as having "a bit of a gap." A roadmap with a gap is not a roadmap. It is a document that stops short of answering the question it is supposed to answer: what will be delivered, and when?

"The public need a more integrated, seamless, and universally reliable product before this can be described as the primary digital front door for Wales."

Jeremy Miles, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care — Letter to DHCW, 12 February 2026

The Cabinet Secretary is stating, in formal correspondence, that the NHS Wales App cannot be described as doing what DHCW says it was built to do. DHCW has presented the App as "the primary digital front door for Wales." The Welsh Government says it has not earned that description. This is the organisation's political principal publicly contradicting its central product claim.

"There is a tipping point where, actually, if we have delays and reprofiling, the benefits reduce... the benefits might be zero by the end. If we'd have known that, we'd have never started."

Welsh Government official — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

This is perhaps the most devastating admission captured in any public forum. A Welsh Government official states that the delays in DHCW's programme delivery are so severe that the benefits of the programmes may have been entirely eroded. "The benefits might be zero by the end." Programmes costing tens of millions of pounds, delayed so long that they may produce no benefit at all. And the admission that follows: "If we'd have known that, we'd have never started." This is not a criticism from outside. This is the funder saying the money may have been wasted.

On organisational culture and governance

"We share your frustration as a board when things don't happen as quickly as possible, or we get informed in what we perceive to be late in the day."

Ruth Galzzard, Interim Chair, DHCW — Public Accountability Meeting, 29 January 2026

The Chair of DHCW's board is admitting, in public, that the board itself does not receive timely information from its own executive team. The board is the governance body responsible for holding the executive to account. If the board is not informed "in what we perceive to be late in the day," it cannot perform its oversight function. The Chair is describing a governance failure — from the inside.

"My clear expectation is DHCW must alert Welsh Government significantly earlier when risks threaten delivery, avoiding the pattern of late notification that undermines system confidence."

Jeremy Miles, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care — Letter to DHCW, 12 February 2026

The Cabinet Secretary identifies a specific pattern: DHCW notifies Welsh Government of delivery risks too late. This is not a one-off complaint. He describes it as a "pattern" — a repeated behaviour. And he identifies its consequence: it "undermines system confidence." The Welsh Government does not trust DHCW to tell it about problems in time to do anything about them.

"Are we ready for the next one? No."

Helen Thomas, Chief Executive, DHCW — asked about pandemic preparedness — Digital Health interview, January 2025

The COVID-19 pandemic was the most significant test of NHS digital infrastructure in a generation. It exposed critical gaps in data sharing, remote access, and system interoperability. Asked whether Wales is prepared for the next pandemic, the Chief Executive of the organisation responsible for NHS Wales digital infrastructure says: "No." One word. No caveats, no qualifications, no mitigating context. The person whose job it is to ensure digital readiness admits the country is not ready.

"The culture at NWIS was the antithesis of open."

Welsh Public Accounts Committee — November 2018

NWIS — the NHS Wales Informatics Service — was DHCW's predecessor organisation. It was renamed and restructured to become DHCW in 2021, but the workforce, the leadership pipeline, and much of the management culture carried over. The Public Accounts Committee's finding — that the culture was "the antithesis of open" — is a formal parliamentary assessment, made after taking evidence and deliberating. It is not a passing remark. It is a verdict.

The question that this verdict raises is simple: what has changed? DHCW's own board chair admits the board receives late information. The Cabinet Secretary identifies a "pattern of late notification." Zero whistleblowing data is published. Zero disciplinary data is published. Leavers analysis is suppressed. When the observable indicators are measured against the 2018 finding, the evidence of cultural transformation is absent.

Source Note

Every quotation on this page is drawn from publicly available, verifiable sources:

• Public Accountability Meetings: Live-streamed meetings held by DHCW, accessible through DHCW's website and public records
• Welsh Government correspondence: Official letters published through Welsh Government channels
• Senedd proceedings: Evidence sessions and committee reports from the Welsh Parliament, available through the Senedd's public record
• Published media interviews: Interviews published in Digital Health and other sector publications

These are not leaked documents. These are not anonymous sources. These are the words of named, senior public officials, spoken or written on the public record. They describe an organisation that cannot demonstrate the value of its spending, cannot deliver its programmes on time, cannot say when they will be delivered, and cannot assure its own government that it will communicate problems promptly.

They said it themselves.