AT-RISK HOSPITAL GIVEN £25M
AHOSPITAL has been given £25m in funding by the Welsh Government – one week before a consultation starts that could see it closed down.
The future of Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, along with other hospitals in west Wales, has been thrown into doubt after it emerged that Hywel Dda University Health Board was looking at six different options for healthcare provision in the area.
Full details of the proposals are expected to be unveiled next week, with a formal consultation set to be launched on Thursday, April 19. A 12-week period will then follow where all views will be “independently analysed”, according to the health board.
However, despite the uncertainty, the Welsh Government has given the go-ahead for £25m in funding for the redevelopment of the obstetric and neonatal facilities at Glangwili, a move which they say will “increase the capacity of the facilities” at the hospital.
The funding will enable the introduction of more high-dependency cots, special care cots and overnight stay rooms for parents. It will also finance the number of birthing rooms, operating theatres and resuscitation bays, while there are also plans for 59 additional car parking spaces.
A further £3.15m has been earmarked for cancer services at Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
The news will be officially announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services Vaughan Gething today.
“I’m delighted to approve £25m Welsh Government funding for the further redevelopment of Glangwili Hospital’s obstetric and neonatal facilities,” he said.
“This funding will improve the clinical quality, safety and innovation at the site. It will mean better access to services for patients and their parents, as well as improving the wellbeing of staff.
“This investment will address the urgent areas of concern highlighted in the Royal Colleges’ report on maternity services in Hywel Dda Health Board.
“This should significantly improve the patient experience and accommodation for families and, as it is a larger unit, may also reduce the risk of families having to travel out of our area for care due to capacity reasons.”
Hywel Dda University Health Board chief executive Steve Moore added: “We welcome this news, as women, children and their families deserve to have better accommodation than we are currently able to offer at Glangwili Hospital. We hope this provides our population with confidence that we will now proceed with pace to make these improvements.”
The news of investment in Glangwili Hospital will confuse some in Carmarthenshire and further afield after Hywel Dda’s controversial proposals were leaked in January.
Originally, there were nine options being considered, some of which involved the closure of the hospitals in Carmarthen, Llanelli and Haverfordwest. It’s understood that these have now been whittled down to six options, the full details of which are expected to be revealed next week.
Hywel Dda has moved to reassure people that it will continue to provide healthcare “to the very best of our abilities” and indicated that, if hospitals were to close, this would not be in the imminent future.
A spokesman for the health board said: “We note there has been concern that the delivery of this capital project may be adversely affected by our forthcoming consultation on the future of health services in the Hywel Dda University Health Board area which, subject to board decision, is due to launch on April 19. We would like to reassure our population that our business of providing healthcare to the very best of our abilities continues – this is the right thing to do and what our patients deserve and should rightly expect from the NHS.
“We cannot prejudge what the outcomes of our proposed consultation may be, and even if there is change to Glangwili or Withybush Hospital in the future, this may be several years ahead. We continually evolve and improve our services, responding to advances in medicine and technology, and this will continue.”
The health board stressed that no decisions have yet been made and that it would consider any new ideas.
One of those has been tabled by Carmarthen Mayor Alun Lenny, who proposed at a public meeting last month that a new hospital should be built on land to the west of the town.
Mr Lenny said all six options under consideration would leave Glangwili Hospital with no A&E facility, saying that “the threat is immediate and real”.
Following the consultation period, a decision could be made on the future of healthcare provision in west Wales as early as September, while the improvements announced today are expected to start at some point in the autumn.