Health board fails to post a single job advert for

A HEALTH board failed to post a single advert for a permanent consultant to work in its short-staffed A&E departments for nearly a year, it has been revealed.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board posted job adverts for six consultants posts in A&E between April and December 2019.

However, all of them were for locum positions rather than permanent members of staff.

The Royal Glamorgan Hospital’s A&E department in Llantrisant is under threat of closure or being downgraded due to its significant shortage of consultants and middlegrade doctors.

There has been a huge public campaign calling for its 24-hour emergency unit to be retained.

Plaid Cymru AM for Rhondda, Leanne Wood, said: “These figures show what has been done – or more accurately, what has not been done – to get permanent consultants into our accident and emergency department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

“The general rule in any organisation is; if a particular position needs to be filled, it has to be advertised. We know permanent A&E consultants are hard to come by – no one is denying that – but the task is impossible without active recruitment in the first place.

“There now needs to be a concerted effort to recruit permanent A&E consultants to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital to give it a chance of not only maintaining 24-hour A&E but improving it.”

At a recent health board meeting, Cwm Taf’s medical director Dr Nick Lyons said the Royal Glamorgan’s A&E department is 17 consultants and 20 middle-grade doctors short of being safe.

However, he reiterated that no decision had been taken yet and they are “leaving absolutely no stone unturned” in ensuring the safety and sustainability of all their A&Es.

Ms Wood added: “We were told that the decision to downgrade our A&E has been led by clinicians, but we have seen doctors and nurses voice significant opposition to the changes.