Health board explains why operations at Wrexham Maelor are postponed

The Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, which covers Llangollen, has explained why it is been forced to postpone the majority of planned surgery at Wrexham Maelor Hospital due to the affects of the pandemic.

In a statement it says: “The increasing transmission of COVID-19 in the Wrexham and Flintshire areas and the resulting number of patients being treated for COVID-19 at the hospital – currently 128 - together with winter pressures has had a significant impact on our ability to provide routine services at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

“Regrettably, the majority of planned surgery at the hospital will be postponed for an initial period of two weeks with immediate effect from Monday, 11 January.

“This action will support the expansion of respiratory and critical care capacity to treat seriously ill COVID-19 patients. It will remain under constant review to enable us to react promptly to the evolving situation.

“All emergency surgery, upper gastro-intestinal surgery, endoscopy procedures and Caesarian sections will continue at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

“All patients affected will be contacted directly by the Health Board about the postponement of their procedure. If clinically appropriate, they may be offered their procedure at Ysbyty Gwynedd.

“Patients who are offered the opportunity to have their procedures at Ysbyty Gwynedd will be prioritised based on clinical need, regardless of where in north Wales they live.

“Urgent outpatient appointments only will continue at Wrexham Maelor Hospital for the present time. Face-to-face routine appointments will be postponed and will take place either via a virtual or telephone consultation.  

“Planned surgery at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan and Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor will continue, although with the rising COVID-19 incidence, this is also under constant review by the Health Board.

“Due to the pressures of COVID-19, planned Orthopaedic surgery will be paused across North Wales from Monday, 18 January. Trauma surgery will continue as normal across all three hospital sites.

“Other Health Boards have already taken similar action, which is in line with nationally accepted methods to risk assess patients.

“Professor Arpan Guha, Acting Executive Medical Director at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: ‘There are many patients expecting to undergo an operation in Wrexham over the coming weeks and we recognise how anxious and worried they will already be about having surgery during the current surge of the pandemic.

‘We are sorry for any further distress or inconvenience this decision may cause and would like to reassure those affected that we are doing all we can to prioritise patients in the most urgent need of care.

‘Our priority is to provide the safest possible environment for surgical patients. This clinically led decision has been made after reviewing predicted demand on our services from both COVID-19 and winter pressures.

 ‘Our staff are doing all they can to provide the best care for all patients while dealing with the challenges caused by the absences of colleagues due to COVID-19 infection, isolating and shielding.’” 

The statement adds that the specialties affected by these changes are:

·         Urology

·         Breast

·         Ophthalmology

·         General surgery

·         Gynaecology

·         Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) 

Advice to patients due to undergo surgery at Wrexham Maelor Hospital during the next two weeks is:

·         You will be contacted by hospital staff by phone about your appointment. Please do not contact the hospital switchboard.

·         If you do not hear from the hospital, please attend your appointment as arranged.

·         If you have any questions or need further information about an appointment or operation, please use the contact information provided on any correspondence received, for example a patient letter.

·         If you are seriously unwell and cannot wait to be seen, our advice remains to please seek help by dialling 999 or attending the Emergency Department.

Latest pandemic update from Welsh Government

Latest coronavirus update from the Welsh Government (dated yesterday) is:

• Health Minister Vaughan Gething will today publish the COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy, which sets out three key milestones.
• It comes as the latest figures show more than 86,000 people have received the vaccine. Wales will publish daily vaccine figures from today.
• The three milestones set out in the plan are:
• By mid-February – all care home residents and staff; frontline health and social care staff; everyone over 70 and everyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable will have been offered vaccination.
• By the Spring – vaccination will have been offered to all the other phase one priority groups. This is everyone over 50 and everyone who is at-risk because they have an underlying health condition.
• By the autumn – vaccination will have been offered to all other eligible adults in Wales, in line with any guidance issued by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
• https://gov.wales/new-covid-vaccination-strategy-published
• Strategy: https://gov.wales/covid-19-vaccination-strategy
• Watch Health Minister Vaughan Gething’s press conference: https://twitter.com/WelshGovernment/status/1348604539046293505

 

• Updated guidance: Moving home while Wales is in alert level 4 lockdown: https://gov.wales/moving-home-during-coronavirus-pandemic
• The Welsh Government is investing £4.9m to improve digital public services in Wales so they are easier for people to use.
• One consequence of the coronavirus pandemic has been that many more people have needed or chosen to access public services online, and this has already driven the transformation of some digital services.
• https://gov.wales/49-million-make-digital-public-services-better-people-wales

 

Coronavirus in numbers

• The latest figures published by Public Health Wales today show there have been 1,793 newly reported cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 171,547 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Wales since the start of the pandemic.
• Very sadly, there were 17 deaths reported by Public Health Wales today. The total number of deaths reported by Public Health Wales is 3,981.
• These figures are updated daily at: https://public.tableau.com/profile/public.health.wales.health.protection#!/vizhome/RapidCOVID-19virology-Public/Headlinesummary

• The number of people who have received a Covid vaccine in Wales is being published every weekday by Public Health Wales.
• 86,039 people have received their first dose of the vaccine
• 79 people have received two doses of the vaccine
• https://public.tableau.com/profile/public.health.wales.health.protection#!/vizhome/RapidCOVID-19virology-Public/Headlinesummary

 

What to do if you have symptoms of coronavirus

• The symptoms of coronavirus are a high temperature, a new, continuous cough and a loss or change in smell or taste.
• If you have symptoms of coronavirus, however mild, you must self-isolate at home for 10 days from when your symptoms started.
• Guidance about self-isolating: https://gov.wales/self-isolation-stay-home-guidance-households-possible-coronavirus
• Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
• You should arrange to have a test to see if you have coronavirus once you are self-isolating. You can book a test at https://gov.wales/apply-coronavirus-covid-19-test
• You should continue to isolate while waiting for a test result.
• Got a question about what to do if you’ve got coronavirus? Visit https://gov.wales/self-isolation-stay-home-guidance-households-possible-coronavirus
   

Where to find the latest information

• Information about the new national measures in place in Wales is available at: https://gov.wales/alert-level-4

• Public Health Wales provides a daily update about the number of cases of coronavirus in Wales. It is available at: https://covid19-phwstatement.nhs.wales/
• Information about coronavirus is available on the Welsh Government’s website at https://gov.wales/coronavirus and https://llyw.cymru/coronafeirws
• Questions about Covid-19 vaccines? Visit: https://phw.nhs.wales/topics/immunisation-and-vaccines/covid-19-vaccination-information/
• Information about support for businesses is available at the Business Wales website https://businesswales.gov.wales/coronavirus-advice/
• The Welsh Government holds a regular media briefing about coronavirus. These are on-the-record, on-camera and supported by a BSL interpreter. These are held at 12.15pm and live-streamed on our @WelshGovernment Twitter channel.

o   Health Minister Vaughan Gething held today’s press conference. You can watch again at: https://twitter.com/WelshGovernment/status/1348604539046293505

o   Slides published during the press conference: https://gov.wales/slides-and-datasets-minister-health-and-social-services-coronavirus-briefing-11-january-2021

Government fund to help Covid-hit tourism and hospitality sector opens

The Welsh Government’s latest £180m Economic Resilience Fund package to support tourism, hospitality and leisure businesses affected by coronavirus restrictions will open for applications at 12pm tomorrow, Wednesday January 13. 

The funding, announced in December, is part of a live £450m package of support that the, hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors as well as their supply chain can access and will provide vital support to thousands of firms impacted by alert level 3 and 4 restrictions. 

The £180m is in addition to a £270m support package for businesses that pay non-domestic rates, which includes non-essential retail businesses, and is being delivered via Local Authorities.

The Welsh Government estimates that under the package of support a typical hospitality business in Wales with the equivalent of six full-time staff could be eligible to receive between £12,000 and £14,000 in total, making it the most generous offer in the UK.

Economy Minister Ken Skates said: “Accelerating coronavirus rates meant we have had to make difficult but necessary decisions to protect people’s health and save lives. We know these decisions have a knock-on effect on our businesses and there is no doubt that latest restrictions mean very real challenges for firms who have already had to deal with so much.

“We are committed to doing all we can to protect our businesses during this very challenging time. Our package of support is the most generous in the UK and since the beginning of the pandemic more than £1.6bn of Welsh Government financial assistance has reached businesses.

“Many hospitality, tourism, leisure and non-essential retail businesses have already received payments of £3,000 or £5,000 in the last month and this additional funding will be absolutely crucial in supporting eligible businesses through the difficult weeks ahead.”

The amount a company can claim from the £180m sector specific fund will be calculated based on staff count and turnover. 

The fund is expected to support up to 8,000 hospitality, tourism and leisure firms impacted by the restrictions and potentially a further 2,000 in related supply chains.

An eligibility checker and calculator has been live on Business Wales since December to help businesses work out what support they can expect to qualify for in total and the detail they will need to make an application. Further guidance was also issued last week.

Since the end of October alone, more than 69,000 offers of support worth in excess of £230m have been made to businesses across Wales through the Welsh Government’s Economic Resilience Fund.

Welsh Government support has already protected more than 125,000 jobs that might otherwise have been lost.

Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Lord Elis-Thomas, said: “We are fully aware, not least from our hospitality stakeholder group, of the impact of the restrictions that we have had to bring in. This was not the Christmas period that any of us had hoped for, but I would urge businesses to take advantage of the help available.

“We will continue to do everything we can to support our firms and our people through to the other side of this dreadful pandemic.”

* Further information and details on how to make an application for the package of business support is available on the Business Wales website.  The fund will remain open for 2 weeks or until funds are fully committed.

Police boss calls for crackdown on Covid rule-breakers

* North Wales PCC Arfon Jones.

A police boss says a new get tough approach is essential to crack down on Covid rule-breakers who are putting lives at risk.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones spoke out after “selfish” people flouted the regulations  and flocked to beauty spots across the region.

On Friday, two people had to be rescued North East Wales Search and Rescue (NEWSAR) team after becoming "disorientated" in severe weather conditions during a walk up Moel Famau on the Flintshire border.

The pair had gone for a walk from home but they raised the alarm by phoning the policing after losing their bearings as conditions deteriorated rapidly due to snow and poor visibility.

By Saturday lunchtime more than 100 cars had been turned away from Moel Famau, with some driving past "road closed" signs.

Meanwhile, in Snowdonia car parks have been closed to deter visitors.

Until now the police response has been guided by the so-called four Es, to engage and find out why the rules were being broken, explain the rules and rise, encourage people to behave responsibly and to only take enforcement action as a last resort.

The regulations allow for fixed penalty notices can be issued with fines ranging from £60 to £10,000.

According to Mr Jones, a former police inspector, it was now time for a tougher approach from the police and other agencies.

He said: “I would like to commend most people for behaving responsibly at this difficult time but those who choose not to can expect to be held to account.

“Unfortunately, there are far too many selfish people who are flouting the guidelines and they are turbo-charging the spread of this deadly virus.

“Their actions are totally irresponsible and life-threatening. If they have no regard for their own health, they should think of their loved ones.

“It is now time to forget  the mantra of Engage, Encourage and Educate and focus on Enforcement so we can clamp down on the Covid rule breakers and prevent this reckless behaviour.

“The stay home and stay safe message is all more important because the new mutant strain of Covid-19 is even more infectious.

“This has inevitably ramped up the threat of community transmission, with 70 per cent of cases in North Wales linked the new variant.

“As a consequence, the people of North Wales are at risk like never before.

“Being a police officer can be a difficult and dangerous at the best of times but North Police is facing unprecedented challenges as a result of the pandemic.

“The last thing our officers need is for their time be wasted by selfish people who think they are above the law.

“It is totally unacceptable that our brave and selfless officers are themselves being put unnecessarily at risk as we have seen with examples of them getting stuck in the snow trying to come to the rescue of these foolish people.”

A Welsh Government spokesman  reinforced the message, saying: "Cases of coronavirus are very high in Wales at the moment and there is a new strain of the virus circulating, which is highly infectious and moving quickly.

"At alert level four, exercise should always be undertaken from home, unless you have special circumstances which requires some flexibility - such as disability or autism.

"The more people gather, the greater the risk of spreading or catching the virus."

Health Minister sets out Wales' vaccination strategy

Health Minister Vaughan Gething (pictured) has this afternoon published the Welsh Government's Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy, which sets out three key milestones.

It comes as the latest figures show more than 86,000 people have received the vaccine. Wales will publish daily vaccine figures from today.

The three milestones set out in the plan are:

• By mid-February – all care home residents and staff; frontline health and social care staff; everyone over 70 and everyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable will have been offered vaccination.
• By the Spring – vaccination will have been offered to all the other phase one priority groups. This is everyone over 50 and everyone who is at-risk because they have an underlying health condition.
• By the autumn – vaccination will have been offered to all other eligible adults in Wales, in line with any guidance issued by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

In total, around 2.5m people throughout Wales could be offered Covid vaccines by September, depending on further advice from the JCVI.

The strategy depends on sufficient and regular supplies of the vaccines being delivered. It will be kept under review in line with supply of the vaccine and any further advice from the JCVI.

Mr Gething said: "The Covid vaccines offer our best hope of a return to the normality we are looking forward to after such a difficult year, which has turned all our lives upside down.

“Delivering this vaccination programme to the people in Wales is a huge task but an enormous amount of work is going on to make it a success.

“We are making good progress with thousands more people being vaccinated every day.

“Over the coming week we will see the programme pick up further speed with more clinics opening and the first vaccines to be given by pharmacists.” 

To reach as many people as safely and as quickly as possible, we are continuing to accelerate the vaccination programme as more supplies of the two vaccines become available.

This includes:

• The number of mass vaccination centres increasing to 35 over the coming weeks, with at least one in each county. We started with seven, five weeks ago.
• Military support in the mass vaccination centres – there are 14 immunisers and 70 other personnel providing support.
• 100 GP practices providing clinics by the end of this week.
• The first pharmacies to provide the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will start vaccinating in North Wales in the next week.
• 14 mobile units, run by community nurses, which are taking the vaccine to care homes.
• Text message vaccination appointment reminders.

Dr Gillian Richardson, who leads the Covid vaccination programme in Wales, said: "This is the biggest vaccination programme Wales has ever seen and the NHS is working incredibly hard to get the vaccine to as many people as possible, safely and as quickly as we can. 

"People will be invited to come and have a vaccination at a clinic close to their home or at one of the mass vaccination centres. I know everyone is really keen to get their jab but please wait until you are contacted for your turn.

“Vaccination will give us a path out of this pandemic but it will take us a little while to protect all the people in Wales who need it – this is why it’s so important everyone continues to take steps to protect themselves and their families from coronavirus."

Data for the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered in Wales will be available every week day from today.

The daily release accounts for the total number of vaccines given until 10pm the previous day, which have been recorded on the COVID-19 Welsh Immunisation System. Actual figures will be higher due to ongoing data entry.

Police confirm man's body found at canal in Chirk

Leader Live is reporting this morning that police have confirmed the body of a man was found in Chirk over the weekend.

The story says: "North Wales Police was alerted to the discovery shortly before midday on Sunday.

"A spokesman for the force confirmed today: 'We were called at 11.55am, January 10, to reports of a body of a man was sadly found at the canal in Chirk.'" 

* To see the story, go to: https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/19001596.body-found-canal-chirk-police-confirm/

Contact tracing service is recruiting

The North Wales Contact Tracing Service is recruiting.

A spokesperson for the service said: "We will all be concerned to see the significant increases in Covid-19 infection rates over recent weeks and the spectre of the new variant of the virus.

"The roll out of the second vaccine has given us hope and a glimpse of light through the trees, but we are not out of the woods yet. 

"Contact tracing is a tried and tested method of controlling the spread of infectious diseases and it will continue to be a critical tool in our fight against the virus for some months to come.  

"It has been a very busy Christmas and New Year period for our Test Trace Protect team and they have been working hard to keep people safe and limit the spread of COVID-19. 

"We need people to join our teams of contact tracers and advisors, to make contact with residents across Wales who have tested positive for COVID-19 and the people they have been in contact with.

"If you are looking for a new job, a new challenge or simply want to do your bit to help during the pandemic we want to hear from you now."

* For more information about the North Wales Contact Tracing Service go to www.flintshire.gov.uk/NWCTS,

or to apply go to www.flintshire.gov.uk/jobs