The minor injuries unit at Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda, which was shut last October due to staff shortages, is set to re-open in April or May, Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood has learnt.
The South Wales Central AM raised the issue with Cwm Taf Health Board following persistent rumours about the future of the unit. Cwm Taf Health Board moved nurses from the £36m building, near Tonypandy, to the accident and emergency at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, near Llantrisant, because of staff shortages.
In correspondence with Leanne Wood, Allison Williams, Chief Executive of the Cwm Taf Health Board, said: “We have successfully appointed seven Advanced Emergency Practitioners with staggered start-dates in April and May.
“We are optimistic that this will enable us to re-open the MIU during April and are currently working through the logistics. We aim to reinstate the service Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays) as previously in place but in our effort to get it open as soon as possible, we may need to go with shorter days in the first instance as we build up the staff .
“We are looking to use the opportunity of the re-opening of the MIU to have a big push on public education to ensure that we get the right people attending appropriate to their clinical need – we need to ensure minor illness is appropriately directed to the GP practice and that more major conditions go direct to the A & E department. To this end we are looking at ways of effectively triaging and directing patients at source and this could be an innovative new approach for Wales which we are quite excited about.”
Leanne Wood said: “This is good news. I’m pleased to hear the health board is fulfilling its promise to re-open the MIU once the appropriate staffing was in place – many people were sceptical that it would re-open at all.
“The temporary closure has meant people in the Rhondda have had extra expense of travelling to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. I look forward to seeing a return to the same opening hours that were in operation before the closure.”
