Following a meeting between AMs Rebecca Evans, and Joyce Watson, Withybush campaigners and the Health Minister, Mrs Evans – Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales – reflected on the meeting in the Chamber and sought assurances on a “secure future” for the hospital amid rumours of its terminal decline.
At questions to the Minister in the Senedd, Mrs Evans said:
“I was very grateful to you, Minister, for accepting the meeting, which I think everybody felt was open, frank and useful.
“Minister, at the meeting, you said that Withybush hospital has a secure and successful future, and that it is a necessary hospital for the people of west Wales. Is that still your view?”
The Minister, Mark Drakeford, responded by saying:
“That is absolutely still my view. Not only was I impressed by the knowledge and the sincerity, and so on, of the people I met that day, but I was also very impressed by the careful and courteous way in which they came to express their views, which were very powerfully held.
“I do not suppose that it was an easy meeting for them, in many ways. I said to them, as I have said on the floor of the Assembly this afternoon, that a secure and successful future awaits that hospital, provided people understand that, like any hospital, in any part of Wales, that future depends on it being able to adapt to changing circumstances.
“There are those who believe that the way to safeguard its future is to freeze it in aspic, to think that nothing can ever change, but, actually, that is the way to make sure that the future for that hospital does not work out in the way that we want it to do.”
Mrs Evans went on to speak in a short debate on the future of Withybush hospital where she said:
“When the campaigners, Joyce Watson and I met with the Minister ahead of the recent rally at the Senedd, I think it is fair to say that that everyone in the meeting was of one mind that if there was to be change then the expert panel’s safety net requirements should be fully in place before any of that change takes place.
“One of those requirements relates to the establishment of the Midwifery Led Units, and I wanted to reflect briefly on my visit a couple of weeks ago to the Brecon Birth Unit which was invaluable in providing me with the opportunity to calmly and forensically talk through with midwives and new mothers the issues and worries that constituents have been expressing to me. It was helpful to have that opportunity to ask questions to examine the facilities and I do urge other members to make the time to do the same.
“The expert panel highlighted some concerns about the proposed time scale for the implementation of change at the Glangwili end. They said that “Capital works are required for the level 2 neonatal unit and alongside Midwifery Led Unit at Glangwili; additional labour ward, theatre, antenatal and postnatal capacity are required; care pathways and clinical protocols must be put in place.
“I am hoping that the Minister may be able to say something today about progress towards the safety net requirements, including the midwifery provision and also the emergency transport and how he is monitoring that progress.
“I hope the Minister will also be able to provide assurances that changes will not take place before facilities at Glangwili are fully in place.”
