‘People could end up dying’
AN EXPERIENCED consultant has claimed patients will end up dying should the Royal Glamorgan Hospital lose its A&E department. He said downgrading such a service would have dire consequences for communities.
ASSEMBLY Members last week voted to oppose any threat of closure of the A&E department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
The vote, which attracted cross-party support, came after hundreds of protesters gathered on the steps of the Senedd to voice their opposition to plans to end 24/7 casualty services at the Llantrisant site.
The Welsh Government will now come under pressure to urge Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board to reverse its plans.
The health board claims a severe shortage of doctors has left it with little alternative than to look at reducing emergency care.
The board has unveiled two preferred options for the future of the hospital – one of which is to scrap A&E entirely and turn it into a 24-hour minor injuries unit (MIU).
The other is to retain A&E but only run it during the day, for example from 8am to 8pm, and then revert to a nurse-led MIU service at night.
But there has been significant opposition to these proposals from the public and politicians who claim such a decision would have a disastrous impact on the well-being of neighbouring communities.
They also believe the closure would put further pressure on already busy A&E departments in the region, such as the Princess of Wales in Bridgend, the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
Coaches were laid on to transport the protesters, many of whom were seen with placards and balloons outside the Senedd ahead of an Assembly debate about NHS emergency departments.
There were cries of “where is Vaughan?” due to the absence of Health Minister Vaughan Gething.
Mick Antoniw, Labour AM for Pontypridd, spoke on the steps of the Senedd.
He said: “This is a campaign we will win. This is a really, really important day. If I honestly thought there was merit in some of the options put forward then I would support them and I would honestly stand here and tell you.
“But I do not think there is any merit in the proposals and there is only one option.”
Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda, insisted he and the people of the Rhondda will fight to save the department.
He said: “In my heart I know we are going to win, because we will fight and fight and fight for the service we know will save lives.”
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said: “It is not just an issue in the Royal Glam, it will affect the safety for all those who rely on the NHS across the central valleys.
“At the heart of it is this, it is our NHS, it is the people’s NHS, and if the people are demanding that the A&E stays open, then that is exactly what should be happening.”
Dr Gail Davies, a retired Pontypridd GP, said the plans were absurd.
“Whatever decision was made in 2014 was wrong. It is the busiest A&E department in the health board and has the highest population,” she said.
“The lack of recruitment due to the South Wales Programme has been hanging over the head of the hospital.”
She said there needs to be drastic improvement in medical training in Wales because it takes eight to 10 years to become a consultant.
Rhondda AM Leanne Wood said consultants were being recruited in A&E departments in other health boards. She claimed the South Wales Programme had “shut the door” on the Royal Glamorgan and hindered recruitment.
Len Arthur, who organised the protest, thanked those who have showed their support for the campaign, adding that he has been in touch with hundreds of people online who could not attend, but had offered their support.
He said: “I am pretty sure that our pressure is beginning to shift the attitude of the health board, but what is key is the decision here today.
“We must get a motion that goes through that supports the permanent 24-hour consultant-led services at the Royal Glamorgan.”
Dianne Blackmore, chief executive of charity Follow Your Dreams which is based in Church Village, but supports children and young people with disabilities throughout the UK, said if the proposals do go through, they will lead to deaths.
“They are absolutely ludicrous, particularly for people with disabilities,” she said.
“No consideration at all has been given to how people with disabilities will access facilities in either Bridgend or Merthyr.
“They have failed to look at things like the Equality Act as to the rights of people with disabilities. We will not stand for this. This is not just about health problems, this will lead to deaths.”
An Assembly debate was triggered by more than 12,500 people signing an e-petition calling for the 24/7 A&E services to be retained.
A motion before the Assembly proposed that it note the concerns of
patients and clinicians across Wales regarding the performance and future of NHS emergency departments, rejected the proposals to downgrade the Royal Glamorgan A&E department and for it to intervene to prevent any downgrading or closures of emergency departments across the country.
Opening the debate, Tory shadow health secretary Angela Burns AM pointed out that, according to Welsh Government statistics, the number of people coming through the doors of A&E in Wales is down on 12 months earlier, but performance had worsened.
Ms Burns said in December 2019, 55,560 patients were seen in A&E, a drop from 67,490 12 months earlier and 65,629 two years earlier.
However, last month a third of patients spent more than four hours in Wales’ emergency departments – the poorest performance since records began.
She added that 12-hour waits have risen by 318% since records began in 2013.
Ms Burns added: “But this debate is not about hammering [ A&E staff] into the floor. We need to give them the support and resources they need to lift them up and enable them to do the job they love.”
She believes having 250 extra beds in Welsh hospitals would help to improve flow and reduce occupancy rates.
Ms Wood said the Welsh Government was presiding over closing an A&E department in one of the most deprived areas of the country.
She noted a study from Sheffield University which found that a 10km distance from an emergency unit is associated with about 1% “absolute increase” in mortality.
The Rhondda AM questioned how the A&E had got into a situation where it had so few staff, adding: “In areas where A&E units are not under threat, consultant numbers have increased significantly. Those areas where reconfiguration proposals were agreed did not.
“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Nobody chooses to work in a place which is under threat.”
She called for a commitment to the long-term future to the A&E department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital to help with recruitment and retention.
Pontypridd AM Mick Antoniw said the “sword of Damocles” had been hanging over the hospital for six years.
“The great strength of the NHS is that it’s owned by the people of Wales,” he said. “We are accountable to the people who elected us to this Welsh Parliament.
“The Royal Glamorgan A&E department is vital and essential to the people of the Pontypridd constituency, and to those in the Cynon Valley, Merthyr and Ogmore Valleys. It is a lifeor-death service that none of us want to use, but one we take comfort from.”
He said there were five key facts emerging:
■ The South Wales Programme is “massively out of date”;
■ the other two Cwm Taf hospitals do not have the capacity to safely absorb the additional number of patients;
■ there is massive housing and population growth in the Taf Ely area which was never taken into account;
■ closing the A&E and changing it to an MIU is just not viable; and
■ the health board’s recruitment crisis is the fundamental issue, not the hospital’s location or funding.
Brexit Party AM Caroline Jones said closing the A&E department would have “serious repercussions” for the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.
She said: “The Princess of Wales is also struggling with demand. It saw around 5,000 patients in December and only around 60% were seen within four hours. The increased demand [of closing the Royal Glamorgan] could totally overwhelm the department at the Princess of Wales.”
Health Minister Mr Gething said he understood that people had real concerns and fears about the future of services at the Royal Glamorgan and what it will mean for their families and communities.
“I fully expect elected representatives to represent the concerns of their constituents and to press for alternatives,” he told the debate. “And that includes the impact of any community services, on Ysbyty Cwm Cynon and Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda, as well as Prince Charles, the Princess of Wales and Cardiff.”
Mr Gething added that the health board has confirmed it will not be closing other services such as theatres, ITUs and there will not be job losses if the changes go ahead.
He also said the South Wales Programme was carried out in engagement with 500 clinicians who live, work in and serve communities across the area.
“Simply calling for the South Wales Programme to end doesn’t solve the problem. It avoids the problem,” he said.