Watchdog "disappointed" at operation suspension

The health service watchdog for North Wales has today spoken of its disappointment about the decision made by health board managers to temporarily suspend ‘non-urgent’ operations at the three main hospital sites - Ysbyty Gwynedd, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and Ysbyty Wrexham Maelor.

 

Geoff Ryall-Harvey, Chief Officer for the North Wales Community Health Council, said "I am very surprised and disappointed to learn of this decision, in particular as the CHC has had no prior warning of this measure.

 

"The CHC has always quizzed the health board closely on plans for temporary changes if pressures on services increase and we have always been clear that if such plans proved necessary in the future, the board should give notification of such changes as far in advance as possible.

 

"I have asked the health board for more information behind these decisions and about the demands on emergency medical services across North Wales. It is worrying that none of the ‘usual’ causes for high levels of emergency admissions to hospitals – such as icy weather, causing trips and falls; flu and other respiratory infections – are an issue here.

 

"We will be seeking a detailed plan that will ensure that the suspension on planned operations will be lifted in the very near future – a promise to keep the matter under review on a daily basis is not good enough."

 

Mr Ryall- Harvey went on: "It is unfortunate for patients and their families that this suspension of services is happening every winter. Delays in planned operations could well result in those conditions becoming emergencies and it is my concern that there will be a real cost in terms of pain, suffering and worry for patients whose operations are delayed. We want people who are affected by this decision to tell us of any problems they have as a result.

 

"The CHC will be voicing its significant concerns about the possible impact of changes, temporary or not, on patients and will continue to monitor the impact of the changes across North Wales. The CHC supports the health board’s plan to undertake an urgent review to establish how this situation has developed so quickly and what can be done to ensure it is not a regular occurrence."

No need to cancel ops if community hospitals had stayed open says doctor

Operations would not have been cancelled had the Health Board kept community hospital beds open.

 

That is the view of Dr Phil White, secretary of the North Wales Medical Committee.

 

On Tuesday the Health Board announced that they would cancel non-emergency operations this week in their three district general hospitals, claiming that increased pressure for urgent care has placed added strain on the hospitals. The Health Board said that many of their patients were elderly and frail which has meant them staying in hospital for longer which has increased calls for hospital beds.

 

Dr Phil White, speaking on BBC Radio Cymru said that doctors had said that this would happen from the start, and that the Health Board had not listened to their warnings. He added that the Health Board had cut the number of beds but had not put other provisions in place. He said: “This is not something that’s happened over night, we’ve been warning about this for nearly five years because of the fall in the number of available beds”.

 

His comments were echoed by health campaigners in the Dee Valley.

 

Mabon ap Gwynfor of Keep Llangollen Health Services said: “This is why we didn’t want to see the Health Board close Llangollen hospital. It’s not because we want to keep out-dated buildings, but because we want to see a first lass health service provided to the people of this area.

 

“We warned them that closing Llangollen hospital beds would put pressure on Wrexham Maelor. We warned them that added pressure due to community bed closures would result in superbug and Norovirus outbreaks. And we warned them that patients would have to travel further away from their family and friends. This has all happened within less than a year of the hospital’s closure.

 

“We welcome the development of a much needed new health centre in Llangollen, but not at the expense of losing hospital beds. We continue to call for hospital beds to be included in the new development.”

 

107 positive tests in Christmas drink drive campaign

Over 460 drivers in Wales were caught over the drink drive limit during the All Wales Christmas Anti Drink and Drug Driving Campaign.

 

Throughout the month-long campaign 35,255 drivers throughout Wales were breath tested between 1^st December 2013 and 1^st January 2014.

 

North Wales Police carried out 18,159 breath tests with 107 being positive. In Dyfed Powys a total of 11,281 breath tests were carried out, with 161 being positive. In Gwent officers tested 2,470 drivers, with 39 being positive, and South Wales Police administered 3,345 tests with 158 positive results.

 

Some of the highest readings recorded during the campaign in North Wales were 133, 129 and 124 – the legal limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. All three individuals have been charged and have appeared/are due to appear before the courts.

 

The campaign was launched with support from the family of Kieran Lea Arnold, who was tragically killed following a road traffic collision by a drink driver who was twice the legal limit last June.

 

The 21-year-old plumber sustained fatal injuries during the two-vehicle collision which happened on the A541 Pontblyddyn to Caergwrle road.

 

As a result of the collision 48-year-old Robert Bryn Williams was sentenced to five years four months imprisonment and was banned from driving for three years.

 

Speaking on behalf of the Welsh forces, Deputy Chief Constable Gareth Pritchard said: “Although warnings were issued throughout the campaign 465 drivers throughout Wales chose to ignore those warnings by risking their own lives and the lives of others by breaking the law. This is very disappointing.

 

“It is also astonishing to see that some were almost four times the legal limit. It is clear that these individuals showed a complete disregard for the safety of other road users as well as their own.

 

“Driving with excess alcohol or under the influence of drugs is not just a criminal offence but also completely unacceptable. 

 

He added: “However, drink driving is not just about Christmas. It ruins lives all year round. Perpetual drink drivers will choose to drink and drive any day of the year so we need support from the public 365 days a year to help us take these people off the roads of Wales.”

 

If you have information relating to someone you think is driving whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs, please contact North Wales Police on 101 or via Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. In an emergency always dial 999.

HSBC bank building goes on market at £275,000

* The bank building in Bridge Street which is now on the market.

After local campaigners failed in their attempts to keep it open as a bank, the building currently occupied by the HSBC bank in Llangollen has now gone on the market for £275,000.

In the marketing material agents Legat Owen describe it as “an imposing, detached former HSBC Bank arranged on basement, ground, first and second floors.”

The description adds:  “The property has a host of original features and is Grade II listed.

“The property benefits from a self contained ground floor retail/A2/Office accommodation with separate access to the side to the basement and upper floor residential accommodation. To the rear of the property there is a sizeable garden, which overlooks the River Dee.”

The sales information goes on: “The property is available by way of  a new full repairing and insuring lease at a rent of £15,000 per annum or alternatively the freehold is available at £275,000.”

Legat Owen says that property’s rateable value is £9,500, rates payable (13/14) are £4,408 and that the residential element is within Council Tax Band A.

Skates to meet council chief over Plas Madoc

CLWYD South AM Ken Skates says he will ask Wrexham Council bosses to ensure every option available is explored to keep Plas Madoc Leisure Centre open.

Labour AM Mr Skates will meet council leader Neil Rogers on February 7, and has vowed to raise his constituents’ concerns over the planned closure.

He said: “Many of my constituents have certainly made their feelings known about the council’s proposals for Plas Madoc, and I am now looking forward to sitting down and discussing what options are available.

“I am a regular user of the centre and I know many people in Clwyd South and further afield would be sad to see it close.

“Councils don’t take this type of major decision lightly, and authorities across Wales are being put under severe pressure because of the UK Government’s austerity measures. However, I am still hopeful we can find an alternative and keep the facility open.”

Planned hospital surgery suspended

UPDATED STORY ...

All routine planned non-emergency surgery across North Wales has been suspended due to what has been described as "increased pressure".

The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said the move affects Wrexham Maelor hospital, Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor and Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan.

For more details on the story see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25830185

* Commenting on the announcement, Aled Roberts, Assembly Member for North Wales, said: 

“This announcement is very worrying.  The Welsh Labour Government had previously said that it was confident that winter plans were in place.  However, these plans are not holding up well at all. 

 

“This is yet further evidence that Betsi Cadwaladr health board is under an immense amount of pressure and that it is really struggling.

 

“Recent figures have shown that Betsi Cadwaladr is the worst performing health board in Wales with regards to patient waiting times.  Many patients are already waiting too long until they receive treatment, it’s therefore a concern that many will now have to wait even longer.

 

“This announcement has been very sudden.  It is essential that if the health board is considering extending the suspension of services beyond next Monday, then patients are informed as soon as possible.

 

“Not only is Betsi Cadwaladr the worst performing health board on waiting times, but this is a problem that has been growing every month since March of last year - there has been a 7% increase in those waiting for more than 6 months and a 4% increase for those waiting over 9 months in the most recent figures released last week for November 2013.

 

“With over 4,330 patients waiting more than 9 months until treatment in the Betsi Cadwaladr area, which is roughly 30% of the figure for the whole of Wales, there clearly is a major problem in the North which can only grow significantly after the cancellation of all non-emergency operations this week.

 

“There seems little chance of meeting the Welsh Government’s target of having just 5% waiting more than six months for treatment and nobody waiting over 9 months.”

* Plaid Cymru’s North Wales AM Llyr Gruffydd said: “This announcement of opera tions being cancelled will do nothing to ease the growing sense of crisis at Betsi Cadwaladr and the NHS in the North. The recent tragic case of Mr Fred Pring highlighted yet again the delays ambulances are encountering in trying to get patients into hospitals.

 

 “Plaid Cymru made it clear that last year’s closure of community hospital beds would put more and more pressure on the main three hospitals and we now see that Glan Clwyd, Bangor and Wrexham are unable to cope with increased seasonal demand and a growing ageing population. The message to GPs confirms that prolonged hospital admissions are causing bed blocking. How many of these patients could and should be moving out to community hospital beds?

 

“This latest cancellation of surgery just postpones the problem and creates further backlog. I don’t know to what extent this is a knee-jerk reaction to Mr Pring but it’s high time that the Welsh Health Minister got a grip of the situation here in North Wales.

 

“We want to see an improved Welsh Health Service here. For that to happen, senior management need to understand that the tickbox target culture can sometimes have unforeseen consequences outside their own narrow silo of responsibility. The Health Minister should intervene before a bad situation becomes worse.”

Mabon ap Gwynfor, spokesman for the North Wales Health Alliance:  “The North Wales Health Alliance was formed last year in part to oppose the closure of community hospitals across the North. We warned then that the loss of more than 50 beds would put extra pressure on our district general hospitals. Now we see the ambulances parked outside for hours on end, patients unable to be discharged because there are no community beds and on top of this operations being cancelled. When will health bosses start listening to people?

 

“Since then we’ve had a new health minister, a new chief executive and a new chairman of Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board. But we’re still facing the same problems because none of them have so far tackled the underlying problems within the health service in the North.”

 

Hospital appointment becomes seven hour marathon

A LLANGOLLEN man has complained to Wales’s Health Minister about a gruelling ordeal which he says saw a simple outpatients’ appointment take almost seven hours due to problems with hospital transport.

Well-known local campaigner Martin Crumpton claims the experience has caused his already delicate health to deteriorate further and left him “in dread” of his next appointment later this month. 

The Welsh Ambulance Service has now begun an official investigation.

As a category C2 patient needing two people to lift himself and his wheelchair in and out of an ambulance, Mr Crumpton was collected by a two-man ambulance crew from his home at 9.45am on January 6 to be taken to his 10.30am appointment at Wrexham’s Maelor Hospital where he had treatment to diabetic foot ulcers.

As the result of a delay of over three hours in being picked by hospital transport, he didn’t arrive home until 3.30pm that day by which time he says he was heading for a diabetic hypoglycemic attack.

 

He said: “I arrived there on time and was seen within 15 minutes. The treatment ended at 11.20am and hospital transport was notified I was ready to go home immediately.

“The podiatrist saw I was still waiting and called them again at 12 noon. Their response was an apologetic one-hour delay, with my pick-up at 2pm.

 

“At 2.10pm, seeing I was still there, they called again. I was then, finally, picked up at 2.40pm by a crew who said they'd only just been assigned.

“They told me that their control had been making significant errors co-ordinating the crews throughout the day. I finally arrived home at 3.30pm.

 

“The round trip has taken six hours and 45 minutes for an out-patients' appointment lasting 40 minutes.”

 

Mr Crumpton added: “The whole time I was hunched-up in my wheelchair with pressure on my feet, specifically the thing I should not be doing.

“During my extended wait, the small amount of food all sensible diabetics carry was not adequate and I was heading for a hypo.

 

“As if that wasn't enough, as a heart failure patient on daily doses of diuretics, I needed assistance to be wheeled to a toilet which was ill-equipped to accommodate a wheelchair user due to it layout and small size.

 

“Once home, I was fed urgently, given a morphine compound and painkillers. But the pain  continued throughout the night, keeping me awake for four hours.

“I have another appointment on January 20 and I quite dread another long wait.

“The district nurse confirms that following my visit to the hospital my foot ulcers have been damaged as well as my already-damaged achilles heels.

 

“What I've learned from staff I see regularly, and often on a first-name basis, is that the Welsh Ambulance Service is severely understaffed. 

“Staff are retiring and there is no recruitment to replace them. The non-emergency ambulances are, in a few cases, quite decrepit.”

In a letter of complaint to Health Minister Mark Drakeford, he says:  “All this, Minister, is wholly down to underfunding and I'm willing to wager with you that this now-deplorable service contributes significantly to patient dissatisfaction figures.

 

“They also tell me that ambulances queue four to five deep at hospitals all over North Wales on a daily basis, and as we left the Maelor on January 6, I saw five waiting myself.” 

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “Our Patient Care Service (PCS) makes more than 1 million journeys every year, providing non-emergency transport to routine hospital appointments in England and Wales for 4,000 patients a day.

“As part of our ambitious modernisation and clinical transformation programme, Working Together for Success, we have made a firm commitment to provide a high quality, planned Patient Care Service which is valued by users, and have seen a number of improvements over the year, including the improved timeliness of our service.

“In 2013, we replaced 14 of our Patient Care Service vehicles in North Wales, and anticipate the delivery of further vehicles in the coming weeks. We are also in the process of recruiting more than a dozen new Patient Care Service staff in North Wales.

“We are disappointed to hear of the patient’s concern on this occasion and have contacted them directly to ensure their future transport arrangements run as smoothly as possible.

“A formal concern has been received in relation to this case, and we will be responding directly to the patient once we have looked into the matter in more detail.”