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* Llangollen Cottage Hospital is earmarked for closure. |
While it “broadly supports”
plans to close Llangollen Cottage Hospital and replace it with a new health
centre, a watchdog body says it still needs assurances on a number of points.
North Wales Community Health
Council, which safeguards the interests of NHS patients, has just submitted its
official response plans for a major shake-up of services by the Betsi Cadwaladr
University Health Board.
Of the part of the plan which
affects Llangollen, it says: “The CHC broadly supports the proposals for
Llangollen Community Hospital services.
“But we will not be sure that
the proposals will serve the interests of people in Llangollen and its
surrounding areas without further assurances from the health board about:
The way it will plan and deliver services with other
organisations in the public, voluntary and independent sectors, and tell people
how they can get access to the service
It’s plans to provide clinical services in Llangollen and
its surrounding area in the time between the closure of facilities at
Llangollen Community Hospital and the completion of a new primary care centre
Confirmation that the GP services in Llangollen are
committed to the plans to deliver the new service
It’s response to the particular needs of rural communities,
including those to the West of Llangollen
The way it
will work with care home providers to make sure its proposals in this area will
work.”
The CHC’s submission adds that
it has “some serious concerns” about other aspects of the proposals for
community hospitals.
It explains: “We have seen
little financial information or information about staffing plans. This means we
cannot be sure that the health board has a financial and workforce plan which
provides a firm basis for developing community and primary care services, or
the proposals for providing enhanced care within people’s homes.
“We are also concerned about
the relationship between the health board and general practitioners in some
areas. People, quite rightly, rely completely on these two sets of health care
professionals to work together. We have seen and heard evidence that this is
not the case everywhere.
“Finally, the CHC is concerned
that the health board’s proposals for community hospitals may represent an
erosion of community-based services. This runs against a national policy which
says that community hospitals play an important part in making sure people have
easy access to the care they need. If people do not have easy access to
services they may not seek help at the right time and when they do, the
treatment may be less successful and more expensive.”
Llyr Gruffydd,
the Party of Wales Assembly Member for North Wales, said: “The Community
Health Council’s response makes clear that in many instances, especially
regarding community health services, there isn’t sufficient information to make
an informed decision.
“Its report makes clear that there is insufficient
information given in the consultation about staffing, finances and the fact
that many of the recommendations conflict with the views of local GPs, the British
Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing.
“Running down community hospitals is a key area of concern in this report
and recent events, where roads were inaccessible and travelling hazardous,
stress the need for local services to serve the community.
“The pressure is mounting on
Betsi Cadwaladr’s management to explain their proposals and how they will
improve the health of the region.”
