BBC Wales reported Sunday that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board was still due to pay Bangor University £110,686 this financial year for two researchers at the Centre for Mental Health and Society, months after an internal NHS report questioned whether the arrangement helps patients¹.

The January report, as summarized by the BBC, said it was unclear what services the board was receiving and how beneficial they were to people in North Wales¹. By September 2025, the BBC said, more than £4 million of NHS money had gone to the university under a five-year 2012 contract that was not reviewed and was allowed to continue, and the board could not show value for money¹.

The centre is part of Bangor University and uses health-board offices in Wrexham¹. The board told the BBC current topics include students' experience in prison, mental health outcomes, and opiate use in primary care¹.

Geoff Ryall-Harvey of the watchdog Llais in North Wales said he would have expected a serious review of what the money bought before the agreement continued¹.

Teresa Owen, the board's interim deputy chief executive, said university health boards do research and that it is addressing the internal audit, including by commissioning an external review of its research, development and innovation function¹. The BBC said both the NHS and the university reviewed the agreement and found no evidence of fraud or misconduct in how it was set up¹.

Bangor University told the BBC the centre focuses on research with a direct application to mental well-being or mental health care, and said it remains committed to working with the board¹.

Not medical advice.

Sources

1. BBCHealth board still paying for research despite criticism over patient benefit9:31 AM

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