Financial Waste
6 articles in this category.
£600 Million In. £0.5 Million Out
Since April 2021, Digital Health and Care Wales has received approximately £600 million of Welsh public funding. Its total demonstrated return, stated by its own Director of Finance: £0.5 million. Nine flagship programmes are failing. Four more have been killed. For every £1,000 of public money invested, 83p has come back.
£226 Million. 25 Minutes. No Risks to Escalate
A £226 million Microsoft contract approved in 25 minutes with 'No risks to escalate.' £45 million hidden under 'Premises.' £8.9 million redefined out of consultancy. A governance statement that cannot complete the sentence explaining why the Welsh Government intervened. Every disclosure meets the minimum standard. None exceeds it.
£8.94 Million on Consultants. Nine Programmes Still Failing
DHCW spent £8.94 million on 49 consultancy contracts spanning 2019 to 2026. The programmes those consultants advised are now under Level 3 government intervention. The published accounts disclosed £757,000 for a single year. The FOI data reveals a far larger picture. And the real figure is higher still.
Nine Programmes, Zero Results: The £78 Million NHS Body the Government Cannot Fix
Nine major programmes. All under Level 3 government intervention. All at the same time. All under the same leadership. An organisation spending £78 million a year that cannot demonstrate a single pound of return on investment.
7% After a Year: The Electronic Prescribing System Nobody Uses
England completed electronic prescribing over a decade ago. In January 2025, DHCW's CEO told the Senedd that 7% of Welsh GP practices were using it. Your prescription is still on paper because DHCW could not deliver what England delivered ten years ago.
Nine Programmes, Zero Delivery
This article has been updated and expanded.