Cynon Valley

WHY IT’S ALL CHANGE AT ROYAL GLAM

- MARK SMITH mark.smith@walesonlin­e.co.uk

A HOSPITAL is set to be stripped of some midwifery and children’s services next year as part of a dramatic shake-up.

Cwm Taf University Health Board has confirmed that paediatric and obstetric services at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital will be downgraded from summer 2018.

As part of the changes consultant-led midwifery will no longer be available at the hospital, based in Ynysmaerdy, near Llantrisan­t.

It means babies who are severely premature or ill will not be delivered at the Royal Glamorgan and will instead be sent to Prince Charles in Merthyr or the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff.

Similarly the current children’s ward at the Royal Glamorgan will be changed to a paediatric assessment unit which will only open from 8am to 10pm.

As a result the Welsh Ambulance Service will be told to bypass the Royal Glamorgan and travel to either UHW or Prince Charles if they have critically-ill or injured children on board outside these hours.

And any children visiting the new assessment unit who require an overnight stay will be transferre­d to one of these two neighbouri­ng hospitals.

Allison Williams, chief executive of Cwm Taf University Health Board, said: “Over the past few years plans have been developed and approved for state-of-the-art facilities in both Prince Charles Hospital and the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff to support the changes.

“Building work is progressin­g well and we are now starting the detailed planning for the service changes from next summer.

“As part of the changes a new paediatric assessment unit will be establishe­d at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

“It will operate seven days a week, from 8am to 10pm with the full clinical team, led by consultant paediatric­ians.

“This new way of working has been successful­ly tested over the last 12 months with the vast majority of children being treated and discharged home during these hours.

“Once the changes have taken place the very small minority of children who will need to stay in hospital overnight will be transferre­d to Prince Charles Hospital or the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff.

“Outside of these hours minor injuries will continue to be seen and treated in the A&E at Royal Glamorgan Hospital, which is open 24 hours a day.

“Children suffering a very severe illness or injury will be taken directly by ambulance to the most appropriat­e hospital, as happens now.

“Over the coming months we will be working closely with our staff on the detailed arrangemen­ts to implement the plans, which are designed to help us to deliver the best possible care and develop services which are fit for the future.

“We will, of course, communicat­e widely with the public about the changes nearer the time but, until then, it is business as usual at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.”

The controvers­ial changes were first brought to the public’s attention in 2013 when the South Wales Programme (SWP) was launched.

The project called for certain services to be concentrat­ed at fewer hospitals in the region in a bid to strengthen care.

SWP board members concluded that consultant-led maternity and neonatal care, inpatient children’s services, and emergency medicine (A&E) should be centralise­d at UHW, Prince Charles, Swansea’s Morriston Hospital, Bridgend’s Princess of Wales Hospital and The Grange University Hospital, which is set to open in Cwmbran in 2021.

In return the Royal Glamorgan has since become a “beacon site” for acute medicine and will soon officially open a £6m diagnostic hub.

Mick Antoniw, Assembly Member for Pontypridd, said: “Over the last few years we have seen specialist services such as the diagnostic­s hub and the acute medicine centre of excellence successful­ly introduced to the Royal Glamorgan, bringing benefits to patients from across southeast Wales.

“Increasing­ly we are seeing hospitals specialisi­ng and by doing so we are seeing better patient outcomes.

“This is the purpose behind these changes and ultimately it will mean the most appropriat­e paediatric and obstetric care for the very small number of children and expectant mothers who need specialist treatment.

“I am reassured that the Royal Glamorgan will continue to offer consultant-led paediatric services for the majority of each day, seven days a week, but I will continue to keep this under review until the new services are establishe­d as working for the benefit of patients in Taff Ely and beyond.”

At the time of the initial announceme­nt four years ago hundreds of people protested against the plans in towns including Pontypridd and Treorchy.

Concerns remain that an increase in patients to UHW in particular will cause further traffic and parking problems on the site.

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 ??  ?? The Royal Glamorgan Hospital
The Royal Glamorgan Hospital

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