Consultants' lack of confidence in health consultation

5:10pm Saturday 22nd September 2012 in News

Consultants at Withybush Hospital have expressed their lack of confidence in Hywel Dda’s current consultation to chief executive Trevor Purt.

A letter from the Medical Staff Committee (MSC), seen by the Western Telegraph, sets out consultants’ concerns over “proposed service reconfigurations”.

It states that the MSC hope to have a more active participation in discussions and decision making process having been “largely excluded”

so far.

“Previous submissions from MSC and from senior management at Withybush have made similar points.

However, these documents received no mention in the summary from ORS, and the content is not recognisable in the consultation document.

“We therefore have no confidence in the current consultation process, and think it will result in worse services for the residents of Pembrokeshire (and Ceredigion),” adds the document.

The Withybush MSC supports a number of proposals in the consultation document including the continued provision on this site of emergency and acute care services, acute medicine, ITU/critical care, consultant- led obstetric services, in-patient paediatric services, and all necessary radiology and laboratory services.

However, it states that it believes the “weighting/ scoring exercise was not performed on a level playing field” and there are “doubts about the accuracy and relevance of many facts in the technical documents”.

An example given refers to the requirement of 40 hours a week consultant cover on the labour ward, stated as only achievable by centralising services at Glangwili, for which the MSC says cover has been provided at Withybush since 2006/07.

The MSC tell Mr Purt that the proximity of Swansea and Carmarthen make it “far more logical to upgrade services at Withybush or Bronglais,” adding that centralising all joint replacements would “not in itself create a ‘centre of excellence’”, a term it believes should be changed.

Comments(7)

great gran says...
11:23am Sun 23 Sep 12

Things have not changed since I worked in the NHS locally and retired 23yrs or so ago.
We are told one thing and something else happens. It is a case of "do as I say, not as I do"
This is a National policy decision and nothing is going to change or alter it now right or wrong. The powers to be forget who put them where they are and no longer work for the masses.

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ScoobyDooby says...
12:52pm Mon 24 Sep 12

What strikes me about this is that the County Council is not supporting the fight to keep services in Pembrokeshire. It is as though they don't care. When will Cllr David Wildman express a view representing Pembrokeshire?
Equally as striking is that it appears that, having had a vote of no confidence from senior medical staff at both Bronglais and Withybush, the only people in favour of the proposals are the members of the Board - Cllr Wildman is one of them - and the medical staff at West Wales General Carmarthen.

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Honest Local says...
10:10pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Absolutely correct and clearly the PCC officers and cabinet are in the pockets of the Health Board - where is the fight to preserve local health services - our well paid county councillors should be leading by example - did not see many of them at the public meeting in Haverfordwest - but perhaps they do not go out at night ! I can only believe that they have been told to keep their heads down. Someone said that there have been some secret meetings between the PCC cabinet and Mr Pertwee the chief executive of this Health Trust to make sure that nothing is said to upset his grand plans to transfer key services to Carmarthen.

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Indeview J Hudson says...
9:20am Tue 25 Sep 12

I came away from the public meeting being a little clearer, I think, about the problems we face, if not solutions. Like a lot of people, I am concerned about having to travel distances east to get care.
There are are not enough specialised medical staff nationally. A number of our local specialists are due to retire in the next five years.It is proving diffficult to attract staff. Unless steps are taken to "manage" this our local services are likely to whither way in an unplanned way and we will be left with little or nothing.
Whether the plans suggested are the best way of combatting this scenario is why we are being "consulted".
I was depressed that while the Plan is founded on centralising services east, the methods of coping with our travel needs and difficulties appears to have been hardly started. Mention was made of talks with the ambulance service; early stages of community based services by GP's Chemists and LA social Services.
No mention of how such extra costs are to be met or even what they are. WE will have to meet them. There was talk of resident accommodation for families at hospitals, where we could stay and no doubt pay.
Our county council representative
on the Health board is a cabinet member, David Wildman, appointed to the Board by the welsh government after being proposed by PCC.
It should not be forgotten that the appointment of the previous council's Director of Social Services for Children and Adults to be the 50/50 part time Director of the county council's social services and the county's social service director on the health board was arranged between the two Chief Executives. We all know how this ground breaking arrangement ended up, and has not been renewed.
I wonder what the Council's majority independent group's policy is. After all it, or rather we, will be required to provide additoinal social care in the community from our council tax. Perhaps the Chief Executives haven't briefed them yet.

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philipw says...
9:15pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Thank you John for your balanced comments on Health services here in Wales. Makes a change from the tub thumping that normally goes on with this issue and quite frankly does noone any good.
The fact is specialists of the right calibre will rarely come west of Swansea and that being the case if it means me travelling if I needed specialist services so be it.
I wish all parties concerned would have an open and honest dialogue and that way we may just get hospital services that are fit for purpose in the 21st Century.
On the issue of the IPG I will just repeat what I have said many times that the only people to blame for this shambles are the electors who repeatedly vote in(or do not oppose) councillors who are not up to the job of running a multi million pound budget.

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Honest Local says...
10:30pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Interesting observations and accept that money is tight and it is harder to get doctors. A core issue however is why are this Health Trust and its managers so eager to move things to Carmarthen and not westwards to Withybush ? The Carmarthen people will have a choice of whether to travel down here or go 20 minutes up the road to Llanelli or Morriston hospitals.

There is also a lot of discussion about this Mr Wildman the county councillor. What I would like to understand is whether he is on this Health Trust just to bring back instructions to county hall from the chief executive Mr Pertwee and to ensure that Pembrokeshire county councillors and its officers comply - or is he there to present the views of county hall to the Health Trust ? In summary is he working for county hall or for the health trust - which camp is he in ?either way he is obviously not working for the electorate and the people.Who appoints these people to the health committee ?

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philipw says...
11:09pm Tue 25 Sep 12

I live just outside Haverfordwest so am directly affected by any movement to Carmarthen of specialist departments. If there is a shortage of specialist doctors and consultants(I think most accept there is) it does make sense to me to to centralise, however unpalatable us here in Pembs find it. I wonder now,in fact,whether the proposals put forward a few years ago to build a brand new hospital near Whitland and centralise services there, may not have been such a bad idea after all!
I think John Hudson can give you chapter and verse on David Wildman's role and I hope that he rereads this blog and posts a further reply.

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