FIRST Minister for Wales and Bridgend AM Carwyn Jones sent the following statement to the Gazette:
The first point to make is that is no “downgrading” of any hospital is proposed. The intention is to work out how to deliver safe and sustainable services in the future.
It doesn’t mean that people will have to travel to Merthyr for A&E services. That won’t happen.
Secondly, service changes are being driven by doctors themselves, not by managers or politicians. There are four things to bear in mind:
The body
that trains doctors wants them to get enough experience in their training. This has led to doctors increasingly wanting to train in centres of excellence where they get enough cases to deal with. If we don’t re-configure services in Wales, we’ll struggle to recruit in the future.
that trains doctors wants them to get enough experience in their training. This has led to doctors increasingly wanting to train in centres of excellence where they get enough cases to deal with. If we don’t re-configure services in Wales, we’ll struggle to recruit in the future.
Services have to be safe. Yes, everybody wants a short journey to hospital but people also want to be treated by suitably qualified staff when they get there. At the moment this happens but for a hospital to provide most services it needs a team that can cover 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
It’s getting difficult to recruit doctors in some areas. This is a UK wide problem, particularly in A&E. The hours are unattractive. We have also always relied on overseas doctors to staff the NHS but they don’t see the UK as a welcoming place anymore and they find it hard to get work visas.
It isn’t about money. The money is there to employ staff but there are vacancies. It’s not unknown for hospitals to advertise for senior doctors and for nobody to apply. We need to make the NHS in Wales attractive as a place to work and having more specialised hospitals is a way of doing this.
as a place to work and having more specialised hospitals is a way of doing this.
Inevitably, I want the Princess of Wales to be a regional centre of excellence with full A&E cover. I was brought up in this town and I live here still.
There has to be change, I know that full well, but I want that change to be for the better and over the coming weeks I will of course be making the case for Bridgend during this consultation process. That means safe services and the continuation of 24-hour emergency cover.
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