Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB Joint Statement – Vikki Howells AM, Beth Winter MP and Councillor Andrew Morgan

This morning we attended a briefing session for AMs, MPs and Council Leaders from the area with Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board.

At the session, we were briefed on two particular areas of health provision within the Cwm Taf Morgannwg region – namely maternity services and the sustainability of Accident and
Emergency services at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

From the questions asked and assurances sought, and also from the information and evidence provided to us, we are pleased with the progress being made in improving maternity services; although we are under no illusions whatsoever that there are still a number of areas requiring significant improvement to ensure that the service is meeting the expectations of residents.

We are continuing to press for improvements in the way the Health Board responds to concerns and complaints that are raised and, despite the patient satisfaction surveys showing high levels of satisfaction with the services received, it is vital that the Health Board keeps learning from instances of poor experience.

In addition to maternity services, we were also given an update on the situation for Accident & Emergency services at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

We are aware that there is a general concern within the Health Board that in spite of the continuous efforts to recruit consultants for A&E services at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, there is an over-reliance on locum consultants.  We were also informed that the last permanent consultant at the RGH is shortly due to retire and we are clear that there needs to be an urgent review in to how services operate in the future.

It must be made clear that this is not a funding issue, but that there is simply a lack of consultants – not just in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board area or even across Wales, but across the UK as a whole.

As politicians, we fully recognise the difficulties facing the Health Board and we have been assured that Cwm Taf Morgannwg will be looking at different models of provision across the
footprint.  It is absolutely vital that residents are fully engaged in both the consultation process and in the agreement of any model of service provision to be implemented.

We will continue to follow these developments very carefully and would like to reassure residents that we will be playing an active role in engaging with the Health Board throughout the process.