THE HEALTH BOARD has presented its recommendations to major changes in the way health services are delivered in west Wales today (Sept 26) – and one of those was to downgrade Glangwili Hospital and Withybush General Hospital in Pembrokeshire.
At the meeting at County Hall, Carmarthen, the Hywel Dda UHB presented outputs from its recent consultation on the future provision of health and care services to the general population together with a clinical recommendation which will be considered by the Board.
The health board’s recommendation has now been published.
The recommendations were:
• Bronglais and Prince Philip in Llanelli will retain ‘acute hospital services’
• Glangwili and Withybush will be downgraded – they will be ‘repurposed’ to offer a range of services to support a social model for health and well-being, designed with local people to meet their needs.
• A new urgent and planned care hospital will be developed in the south of the health board area.
This is not the final decision, but at this stage a recommendation.
A further detailed meeting is scheduled for the end of November. If the local community health council refuses to back the plan then it could be sent to Health Secretary Vaughan Gething for a final decision.
However, Mr Gething warned earlier this year that NHS services in Wales could ‘collapse’ without urgent transformation and called on politicians from all parties to be ‘grown up’ and to not ‘run away’ from difficult choices.
Campaigners may also ultimately try to challenge the health board’s plans in the courts – although previous attempts to overturn decisions were unsuccessful.
One of the recommendations in the board papers is to develop plans for the new hospital. The board is asked to progress consideration of location options within the defined new hospital zone, between Narberth and St. Clears, through a formal feasibility study.
- Work with local people to develop models to provide enhanced support to those communities furthest from main urgent care and hospital services.
- Consider the impact and opportunities a new hospital in the south of the Health Board area would provide to Bronglais General Hospital.
- Develop a plan for the approach to managing emergency conditions which are time-sensitive.
Chair of the Community Health Council Dr John Morgan said: “In our day-to-day work we’re clear that the public’s frustrations come from big problems in the health system, so over the coming years the whole system has to change to give people what they need. For that reason we think the Health Board should continue to make major system-wide plans.
The CHC has seen how people are welcoming more care being provided in community settings close to home.
People are less happy about placing any services further away especially if they needed care in an emergency.
Public involvement in the consultation and large-scale petitions has communicated these views loud and clear.
Dr Morgan continued: “Listening to what the public have said, the consultation has created as many questions as answers. We think that there need to be strong foundations in place to build a new system upon. This means GP practices that are more robust, well-functioning established community services, better use of technology and better travel and transport arrangements, to name but a few.”
Plaid Cyrmu has responded to the decision of Hywel Dda University Health Board (UHB) to downgrade Withybush and Glangwili hospitals by calling on the Welsh Government’s Health Secretary to intervene and properly merge health and social services.
Helen Mary Jones, Plaid Cymru AM for Mid and West Wales said: “This decision is the latest in a long line in the never ending saga that is hospital reconfiguration and in particular the persistent proposals to remove essential emergency services from smaller hospitals whilst failing to strengthen primary care and tackle the chronic workforce shortages faced by rural health boards.
“It is clear to us that the Health Board’s choice doesn’t address how services will actually be improved in the short to medium term. There is no proposal for better out-of-hours care, no plan for substantial increases in social care services, and no plans for investing in the ambulance services – only the removal of essential services and the hope that maybe, one day, we’ll see a new hospital.
“The decision also makes no mention of the transformation that needs to occur in the relationship with local authorities and the third sector for the changes to be realised.
Adam Price, Plaid Cymru AM for Carmarthen and East Dinefwr, said: “The obsession with endless reconfiguration of secondary care has to stop. Where are the positive plans, such as those Plaid Cymru has presented, to strengthen GP services and preventative healthcare; invest in medical training and tackling staff recruitment and retention? There is a vacuum of information. Creating an integrated health and social care model which works in the community should be done first in order to shape the hospital services we need.
“There’s nothing radical or transformational about closing a few hospitals and opening a new one. The transformation comes by recognising that model isn’t delivering, and it is only by working with an integrated health and community care system will we truly change people’s lives.
“Furthermore, the health board intends ploughing ahead with a new hospital without a single penny being guaranteed for its construction. We need an urgent statement from the Health Secretary to confirm the Welsh Government will guarantee the costs. Without that guarantee, today’s plans are meaningless and nothing more than an attempt to deflect attention from the desire to downgrade local hospitals.”
Havard Hughes, a spokesman for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Conservatives commented: “These proposals as they stand are ill-thought through and don’t take account of the serious implications of stripping Carmarthen and Withybush of their A&E facilities. We are deeply concerned that with a massive £70 million debt, Hywel Dda is proposing to close facilities at existing hospitals in order to build an entirely new uncosted hospital further away from our main towns. Our suspicion is that downgraded hospitals, together with those such as Amman Valley will eventually be closed entirely if these plans go ahead.
“Carmarthen East & Dinefwr Conservatives responded to the consultation setting out our serious concerns that the transport implications of these plans have not been properly through. Forcing patients to travel further from established communities on West Wales roads will inevitably lead to higher patient death rates, traffic congestion and massive inconvenience.
“The trust have put forward no convincing evidence that we have seen that the new hospital location will be attractive to staff – the contrary would seem to be the case from speaking to medical personnel.”
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