FEARS that yet more services could be cut at Pembrokeshire’s Withybush hospital as part of a raft of health board proposals which include an option of patients needing specialist critical care being transferred to Glangwili has led to calls of ‘enough is enough’.
Hywel Dda University Health Board yesterday, May 29, launched a public consultation, running to August 31, into potential changes after classifying nine key services as ‘critical’, stating that urgent reorganisation is necessary.
The services identified are: critical care, dermatology, emergency general surgery, endoscopy, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, radiology, stroke, and urology.
There are no changes to how people access emergency care (A&E) or minor injury care.
It has raised concerns that some services currently provided at Withybush Hospital could be relocated to other hospitals in the health board area.
In the case of critical care, one option of three is detailed below.
- Intensive care units kept at Bronglais and Glangwili. An enhanced care unit would be provided at Withybush and Prince Philip. Patients at Prince Philip or Withybush needing specialist critical care would be transferred to Glangwili.
Currently, full emergency general surgery services, including surgical operations, for adults are provided at Glangwili, Bronglais and Withybush. Patients from Prince Philip are taken to Glangwili.
The consultation list two options.
- Emergency general surgery consultant surgeons would be based at Bronglais and Glangwili, providing full emergency general surgery services including surgical operations. Patients at Withybush needing surgery would be transported to Glangwili for their operation, before returning to Withybush when fit to do so to recover.
- Emergency general surgery consultant surgeons would be based at Bronglais, and at either Glangwili or Withybush on alternate weeks to provide surgical operations.
Local Senedd Members Paul Davies MS and Samuel Kurtz MS have underlined the vital importance of Withybush Hospital, with Paul Davies, a longstanding campaigner against the downgrading of services at Withybush Hospital, saying: “This consultation is the latest in a long line of consultations that have all resulted in vital services being cut at Withybush hospital – and enough is enough.
“It is not acceptable for the people of Pembrokeshire to have to travel further for vital health services and I will be fiercely campaigning against Hywel Dda University Health Board’s latest proposals.
“Withybush hospital has been under attack for years because of the Health Board’s ideological pursuit of a shiny new hospital elsewhere in west Wales. Withybush hospital and the people it serves deserve support and investment, not more cuts. The Welsh Government should intervene and ensure that services stay put at Withybush hospital.”
That potential new ‘super hospital is not expected to be built within the next decade, the health board has previously said.
Sam Kurtz MS, who was born in Withybush, said: “The loss of vital services at Withybush, including SCBU, consultant-led maternity, and children’s A&E, remains deeply felt by local people. The removal of one service often renders others unviable.
“If any further service loss were to threaten the viability of the A&E department, that would be wholly unacceptable and would be a red line. It would be met with fierce opposition from the community, and I will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them in that fight.”
Pembrokeshire Cabinet Member for Finance Cllr Alistair Cameron, who has previously raised concerns about the proposals at full council, said: “We all know the health board is struggling to deliver many of its services and it has described nine of its services as fragile.
“It has now issued a 44-page summary document on the future of these fragile services. The board needs to clearly explain the options it is looking at and make sure everyone gets a chance to have a say.
“I can see some options involve patients having to travel further for essential treatments and that will be a major concern. There will be 11 consultative events in West Wales plus online events. However, the Board needs to reach out to those who cannot make the events and do not have access to a computer.”
At the May 29, meeting, Medical Director Mr Mark Henwood said: “No decisions have been made on the options presented, and there are currently no preferred solutions. The changes we are looking to make are to ensure we have safe, high-quality services and affordable healthcare in the future, and have at their heart the best interests of the people of west Wales and their patient experience.”
