‘City’s urgent medical care service shut unexpectedly at Christmas’

A SERVICE for urgent medical care for patients in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan closed unexpectedly over Christmas, it has been claimed.

The Out of Hours Service, run by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, provides urgent medical care for patients who cannot wait until their GP surgery is next open.

The service is available 6.30pm-8am on weekdays, 6.30pm on Friday evenings to 8am on Mondays, and has 24-hour cover on bank holidays.

Covering the whole of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, it provides urgent care to more than 500,000 patients as well as covering emergency dental care.

Conservative councillor for Rhiwbina Jayne Cowan said she grew concerned when she tried to use the service on Saturday, December 30.

She said: “I rang at 12.30pm and was told it was a two- to three-hour wait, which I thought was reasonable. Five hours later I called back and was told it would be eight hours-plus.

“I got a call back saying the doctor could speak to me in the morning. A lady told me, ‘we’ve actually shut the system’.”

Coun Cowan said she was told that the service had closed on Christmas Eve, had been re-opened, and then closed again the day she tried to use it.

“If they have an issue at Christmas I don’t understand why they don’t put more people on,” she said. “It just worries me that it took that long.

“If they call it an urgent service it’s not fit for purpose.”

A spokeswoman for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “Cardiff and Vale UHB has had an extremely busy Christmas and New Year period in terms of unscheduled care activity.

“Our clinical teams have, once again, been remarkable in responding to the demands of the period. We have seen an increase in patients presenting with flu and other respiratory conditions, together with a number of patients experiencing gastrointestinal problems – including norovirus.

“A small number of hospital beds have been closed to admission as a precaution and we have not observed a related increase in staff sickness at this point.”

The health board’s website said: “The service can become very busy and patients are reminded to use the service only if there is an urgent need that cannot wait until their own GP practice opens.”