The decline of the Cynon Valley Health Service but who is in charge who is responsible
Flowing on from yesterday's post about the part-time or should we say minimum time the Mountain Ash Hospital Minor Injury unit is open, the Unit is a great idea we had 2 Minor Injury units once in both hospitals Aberdare and Mountain Ash.
The welsh Government built the new hospital at Mountain Ash at a cost in excess of £64 million pounds, under the plans, a new 128-bed community hospital will be built in Mountain Ash offering mental health and palliative care services along with a midwifery-led birthing unit, including pre-and post-natal services. The development will include a nurse practitioner-led minor injuries unit, which will be located alongside the out-of-hours service.
Also promised was access to a range of diagnostic services, such as x-ray and ultrasound, will be improved with the availability of these tests at the centre. The scheme also proposes a £10 million dental unit, providing state-of-the-art training facilities for the increased number of dental students over the coming years as an extension to the Dental Hospital in Cardiff.
Is the £10 million dental unit open for everyone in Cynon Valley?
In 2017 patients were praising the Minor Injury Unit at both the Rhondda and Cynon Valley, and then in 2018 Mark Drakeford became First Minister of Wales and Leader of the Welsh Labour Party. The Welsh NHS was on a downward spiral well before COVID, not forgetting Drakeford was Welsh Minister for Health and Social Services from 2013 to 2016, so he should be in a position to answer any question put to him on health, without throwing all his toys out of the pram just to avoid answering a question.
In 2007 the welsh Labour Government said, “Plans to replace outdated health facilities in the Cynon Valley with a modern £64 million purpose-built community hospital” "The plans meet the aims of Designed for Life in that more services will be provided closer to the patient, with many services on offer under one roof.” They also said This massive investment by the Welsh Assembly Government will dramatically improve the health services on offer for the people in the Cynon Valley. We now have a part-time health care service, Welsh Government said; building this new hospital will reduce pressure on neighbouring accident and emergency units. Not when the Welsh Government is allowing Cwm Taf Board to cut the services in Cynon Valley.
“As part of the proposals set out in the Outline Business Case developed by Rhondda Cynon Taff Local Health Board and North Glamorgan NHS Trust, the new hospital will be supported by an integrated Primary Care Resource Centre in Mountain Ash and a further stand-alone Resource Centre in Aberdare.” That was back in 2007 Mountain Ash had its new Primary Care Resource Centre but again what happened to the stand-alone Resource Centre in Aberdare? Perhaps our Labour MS and MP can answer that question? Or is it someone in Mountain Ash has more influence in getting what he wants when he wants it? Not that Mountain Ash didn’t need the Resource Centre it did, as do Aberdare.
This was the comment at the time of the plan to build the Mountain Ash Hospital, “The Outline Business Case for the £63.61million Cynon Valley Neighbourhood Healthcare Facility has been approved by the Welsh Assembly Government's NHS Capital Investment Board.”
“The Outline Business Case is the second step of a three-stage business case process that aims to ensure public money is well spent and that the development will meet future health needs of the area.”
Now the development does not meet the needs of Cynon Valley Residents neither do the GP services you provide meet the needs of Cynon Valley Residents.
Below is taken from a post-2017
Cheryl Davies, Sister and Emergency Nurse Practitioner at Ysbyty Cwm Cynon, said: “A Minor Injuries Unit deals with urgent but non-life threatening events such as broken limbs, sprains, strains, human bites, foreign bodies in their eyes, nose, ears. It covers many aspects of care and we have lots of facilities on site.
“The benefit is the lack of waiting time. On our busiest day, our waiting time is approximately an hour whereas in the main A&E department it can be four hours plus.
“Patients who attend to the main A&E department are often referred here if their waiting time is excessive – they will say ‘that’s a minor injury, you need to go YCC.’”
Ysbyty Cwm Cynon, Mountain Ash 9am-4.30pm, Mon-Fri (excluding Bank Holidays). No appointments are necessary at Ysbyty Cwm Cynon. For any further information please contact the Minor Injury Unit on 01443 715200.
