The Welsh Assembly Health Minster is to raise concerns about future services at a flag-ship hospital after Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood questioned her about the matter in the Senedd.
The AM for South Wales Central was speaking after Cwm Taf Local Health Board revealed plans to close the minor injuries unit at Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda in Llwynypia on Saturdays as of next week. In a meeting with Margaret Foster, the Chief Executive of the Health Board, Ms Wood was told the closure was due to a high number of medical vacancies and the need to prioritise services at the larger hospitals in the area.
Ms Hart (pictured) has now said she will meet with senior figures at the Cwm Taf Local Health Board to discuss the issue.
During questions to the Health Minister, Edwina Hart, Ms Wood said: “The new 108-bed, £38 million Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda in Llwynypia was built to replace an out-of-date and dilapidated building. Unfortunately, less than a year after opening, the minor injuries unit there is to close on Saturdays as of next week.
“The chief executive of Cwm Taf Local Health Board has told me that the Saturday closure was due to a high number of medical vacancies and the need to prioritise services at the larger hospital in the area, and that it was not being done for financial reasons.
“Many of my constituents are concerned about the future of services at Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda if these recruitment problems persist.
“Are any initiatives or strategies being developed or implemented to improve the recruitment and retention of staff in the NHS?”
Ms Hart replied: “As you know, there have been some difficult issues across the piece regarding recruitment, particularly in relation to junior doctors in west and north-west Wales. The Wales Deanery has identified that that is the case, and I have been working with the service to deal with that.”
She added that she would be meeting with Chris Jones, the chair of the Cwm Taf Health Board, next week and would discuss discuss the Saturday closure of the minor injuries unit at Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda.
Sera Evans-Fear, Plaid Cymru’s candidate for the Rhondda at next year’s Assembly elections, said: “For a major facet of the new £36 million hospital to be limited to opening for just five days of the week is a backward step for patient care in the Rhondda, and a worrying step towards further centralisation.
“The fact that this decision is being taken very swiftly means that a proper consultation, that fully takes into consideration the views of local people, will not take place.
“The minor injury unit is a crucial part of the new hospital which was supposed to herald improved healthcare to an area that has had to make do with sub-standard facilities for too long.
“People fear that this is the start of the slow removal of the service altogether.
“Rhondda Plaid Cymru will not stand for that – we will do all we can to make sure our health services are not downgraded, privatised or removed.”
