[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Assembly Members today discussed plans to temporarily reduce the opening hours of Withybush hospital’s children’s care unit.
Hywel Dda University Health Board wants to cut opening hours of the paediatric ambulatory care unit (PACU) by four hours a day, from 10am–10pm to 10am–6pm. It is in response to there being “fewer consultant paediatricians available,” it says.
In an urgent question session at the Senedd this afternoon, Joyce Watson AM said she accepted the health board’s explanation that taking no action would pose a risk to patient safety. “That is the number one priority,” she said.
The Labour Mid and West Wales AM continued, asking health minister Vaughan Gething about at-home and community-based healthcare provision for children with chronic conditions:
“(A)n awful lot of children who access care in Withybush are children who need long-term care. And, very often, it’s about crisis management of their long-term condition that sees them arrive at Withybush hospital, unscheduled. I remember when we were both at the paediatric unit in Withybush that there was talk about moving forward into delivering that care, very often in the homes of those children, so they don’t need to travel at all.
“I think that people are hugely concerned, especially the parents of the children I’ve just described. So, if you have anything further to add to that, I would be most grateful.”
Mr Gething, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport, replied:
“Thank you for the points made. And, again, I recognise and recall the same conversation about improving the community service in paediatrics, to make sure that children’s care is properly anticipated and managed. Much better for the families, much better for the child, to make sure that, wherever that care is being undertaken, it’s undertaken in as planned a manner as possible. And that has to be the direction of travel, not just in Pembrokeshire, but right across the country, in other rural settings, but also in urban and valleys settings too as well. It’s actually the right thing to do for the child in that whole context.
“I’m happy to go back to the point about recruitment. This is a planned temporary change, in response to a failure to recruit, and there are interviews being slated for early January to try and fill the particular vacancies. And I think you’re right to remind us all that the worst thing for the health board to do is not to act in the face of a staffing shortage. That would mean running short, it would mean running a service where I do not think individual professionals could or should be assured, or even the health board could be assured, that they’re providing a safe and high-quality service that people in Pembrokeshire really do deserve. So, there is a need to act. I’m pleased the health board are acting both in terms of their options and their choice about what to do with the service now, but also, the longer-term future, both in the community and in the hospital setting as well.”
The plans to reduce opening hours at Pembrokeshire’s PACU, which include proposals for on-call paediatric consultants to offer remote out-of-hours advice, will be discussed at a full health board meeting on Thursday 24 November.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
