Campaigners demand urgent public meeting over hospital unit closure plan

Martin Shipton

Campaigners fighting to save the Minor Injuries Unit at Llanelli’s Prince Philip Hospital are demanding an urgent public meeting with health chiefs.

SOSPPAN (Save Our Services Prince Philip Action Network) is also launching a public petition to oppose the controversial closure of the unit between 8pm and 8am from November 1.

The campaign group is blaming Hywel Dda University Health Board for breaking its promises of 24-hour care at the unit and says it has mismanaged the service.

‘Easy option’

SOSPPAN chair councillor Deryk Cundy said the board had to explain to the public why it had taken the “easy option” of shutting the Minor Injuries Unit for six months.

“With this decision they are failing in their basic duty to keep the public safe. Lives will be endangered,” he said.

“Health chiefs should now come to Llanelli to attend a public meeting we are calling urgently. The people of Llanelli want to be heard and we know they will be fighting tooth and nail, with us, to get this devastating and disastrous decision reversed.

‘It is the health board’s decision to shut the unit that they are supposed to be managing for the people of Llanelli. We know for a fact that over 6,000 people are attending the unit at night on average each year.

‘Some of those people may not survive if they had to wait for an ambulance to get to Glangwili or Morriston hospitals. Treating the 70,000-plus people of Llanelli and the surrounding area in this way is deplorable. It’s making us second class citizens.”

Extra demand

There are concerns also that the accident and emergency departments at Glangwili and Morriston Hospitals will have difficulty coping with the extra demand of taking more patients from the Llanelli area, causing even longer delays in treating patients at both hospitals.

The closure plan would also mean that patients from Llanelli suffering a mental health crisis would have to go to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen for assessment.

Cllr Cundy said: ‘This will place an extra burden on the ambulance service. Not everyone has a car and we are hearing some stories of what may have been fatalities if the unit was closed. Instead they were treated quickly and effectively at the Minor Injuries Unit and their lives were saved.”

Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith said: “It’s really important that the health board listen to how strongly people in Llanelli feel and act swiftly to ensure that the Minor Injuries Unit stays open 24/7.”

‘Fed up’

Llanelli MS Lee Waters said: “We are really fed up of decisions being made like this. It breaks a promise made to the people of Llanelli and we will fight it. This is the health board’s decision. They need to face people directly and explain it, and say what they are going to do to fill the gap this has left.”

The health board has issued a statement saying the plan to have a temporary reduction in hours was due to “increasing operational and staffing pressures”. It was intended “to ensure the safety of patients presenting at the unit”.

The board’s statement said: “The temporary change will not affect the Acute Medical Assessment Unit and very unwell medical patients will still be taken to Prince Philip Hospital, 24-hours a day, for assessment and treatment as they are now.

“The proposal would mean that adults and children with a minor injury would also still be able to attend the Minor Injury Unit at the hospital between 8am and 8pm every day.

“The proposal to adjust the opening hours of the MIU is being presented due to patient safety concerns, raised both by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales seeking assurances following an inspection in June of last year, and from staff working at the unit. This is due to the frequent inability to find suitably qualified doctors to cover the GP-led service, particularly in evening and overnight sessions.

“This has led to the service being led instead by Emergency Nurse Practitioners who, whilst extremely skilled at dealing with minor injuries, are not able to provide suitable care to patients who require a GP.

“Additionally, some patients attending the unit have more complex needs than can be managed by a GP, as they are considered major. This means they need to be stabilised and transferred onwards.

“The urgent need to address this problem has been endorsed by medical staff at the hospital with growing concerns about the safety of the service and the patients it treats.”