I imagine South Wales Labour MPs Senedd Members and councillors have all been in a complete panic over the news that after all with the Senedd elections eighteen months away it's the last thing they want to see.
Plans which could see the A&E department at a south Wales hospital downgraded are being considered by health chiefs. The proposals would mean an end to 24-hour consultant-led services at Royal Glamorgan Hospital's A&E. Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board will discuss the options in a report to the board on 30 January. The downgrade formed part of an agreement to centralise some health services in south Wales in 2014. More than 53,000 people responded to a public consultation on the plan - called the South Wales Programme - in 2013. While other parts of the plan have happened, the proposed changes to A&E departments have not been implemented. Interim chief executive Sharon Hopkins said service and staffing pressures meant the current set up was "increasingly unsustainable". She said staff had "worked exceptionally hard" to deliver emergency services across three sites - the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend and Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil. But in a statement Dr Hopkins added: "Continuing and growing service and staffing pressures have meant that this situation is becoming increasingly unsustainable... and safe services cannot be maintained beyond the immediate short term without unacceptable risks to patient safety". The report said an option to continue the current system should be "rejected", instead recommending two options.
A&E threat to Royal GlamorganOne would see the consultant-led service end, replaced by a minor injuries unit with nurses. The other would see consultants continue at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital during the day, and a nurse-led minor injuries unit would operate overnight.
Local politicians attending a meeting with the health board on Friday were told the last full-time A&E consultant at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital would leave at the end of March, meaning services would be provided by locums from April.
'Terrible news'
A statement on Facebook from Rhondda AM Leanne Wood said the situation was "completely unacceptable". The former Plaid Cymru leader added: "The poor workforce planning from successive Labour health ministers means Wales has one of the lowest doctor to population ratios in Europe." Rhondda Labour MP Chris Bryant said either of the options proposed would be "terrible news" for people in the area. He said many would have no choice but to use public transport and mountain roads which were unreliable in winter. In a joint statement, Pontypridd Labour AM Mick Antoniw and MP Alex Davies-Jones said the proposal "will be of concern to many". They said: "Robust A&E provision at the Royal Glamorgan is a critical component of health service provision to people in Pontypridd and the wider valleys communities and we are strongly opposed to any reconfiguration that results in a material dilution of A&E services at the Royal Glamorgan." Welsh Conservative health spokeswoman Angela Burns said: "Just this week we have had the worst A&E results for the Welsh NHS and yet the Welsh Labour government are allowing this downgrade to go ahead. "Surely, the Welsh Government should be looking at options to reduce the more than 6,000 people that wait 12 hours or more for treatment in A&E in Wales." The Welsh Government said: "We expect the health board to work with its partners to consider options and agree a sustainable model of care for the future."
Labour response is to protest without mentioning that it is the Welsh Senedd (formerly Assembly) which runs the NHS in Wales as they would in Scotalnd (SNP run) or England (Tory run)
Alex Davies-Jones MP, the new Labour MP for Pontypridd, posted a video on Twitter updating followers “on the campaign to save our A&E at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital”.
In the video Alex Davies-Jones encourages her constituents to “make [their] voices heard” to “stop these changes from happening” without mentioning who ultimately is responsible
But an early entry for Welsh Hypocritical politician of the year goes to Senedd/Assembly Member, Dawn Bowden, who took to Twitter to deny that the Welsh Government had any say in the decision.
She said that the NHS was “funded by the Welsh Labour Government” but was “managed by people who are paid to do so”.
As Ms Bowden knows full well the NhS in Wales responsibility of the Labour-controlled Welsh Government, and Labour AM Vaughan Gething is the current Health Minister.
Now I accept that much of the problems of the NHS in Wales like the rest of the UK can be laid at the Westminster Tories who have not funded the NHS properly, and the Welsh Government has the dilemma of having to rob Peter to pay Paul to ensure the Welsh NHS is funded.
If you want a a NHS then prepare for cuts elsewhere under current funding.
However money is not the only solution .
Why can't technology be used so that in some cases a consultant in Prince Charles Merthyr could not apraise the situation in the Royal Glamorgan using video transfer.
The NHS in Wales needs more money but also smarter thinking.
In the meantime we are faced with Labour MPs . Senedd Members and the likes of the Labour run Rhondda Cynon Taf council clearly rattled that his party may pay a price, when it comes to election time.
