IN A WEEK when public consultation on plans to reorganise hospital services in Shropshire ended, the Welsh Assembly Government confirmed it has made no representations to the consultation.
To mark the last day of consultation, health campaigners opposing proposals to relocate the main maternity and in-patient paediatric unit and the obstetric and neo-natal intensive care units from the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to the Princess Royal Hospital Telford delivered more than 30,000 signatures on petitions from across Shropshire and Mid Wales.
Yet we can confirm the Welsh Assembly Government’s Health Minister, Edwina Hart, has made no representations to the consultation, because due to ‘operational procedure’ it is the responsibility of Powys Local Health Board and Montgomeryshire Community Health Council to lobby on the behalf of concerned Mid Wales residents.
“We are a Government, not a pressure group,” Edwina Hart’s press officer, Martyn Williams, explained when asked why the Welsh Assembly Government has not been seen to be supporting the residents of Mid Wales in their battle to maintain vital health services in Shrewsbury as opposed to a further 16 miles away in Telford.
“It is not our decision, it has nothing to do with us,” he continued.
However, Mr Williams insists the Welsh Assembly Government is ‘monitoring the situation’ and, if necessary, will make representations to the Secretary of State for Health in England.
In a statement to the County Times, he wrote: “These are proposals by English healthcare organisations and not the Welsh Assembly Government.
“Powys Teaching Health Board is responsible for planning and securing health care services for Powys residents. The health board is currently considering what impact these proposals will have and will consider its formal response to the consultation.
“Senior Welsh Assembly Government officials are liaising with the health board and monitoring the situation. If necessary, the Welsh Health Minister will make representations to the Secretary of State for Health in England.”
But the Welsh Assembly Government has been accused of having a ‘hidden agenda’ over its refusal to lobby Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust about the relocation of vital health services.
Montgomeryshire Assembly Member Mick Bates said the Assembly Government’s refusal to engage on the matter is ‘extremely disappointing’ and claims the proposal to shift services to Telford would suit WAG, allowing it to have Powys patients treated within Wales by the Betsy Cadwallader University Health Board in North Wales.
He said: “I think they do not understand what it means to live on a rural part of Wales where our services are based in England. I am absolutely disgusted with the lack of engagement over the strategic issues we are facing if this goes ahead. I think there’s a hidden agenda to stop Welsh patients being treated in England.”
He added: “I am extremely disappointed that despite my repeated requests, the Welsh Government refuses to engage at any level to examine the strategic impact on Welsh services of proposed changes to hospital services by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
“In every consultative meeting I have attended regarding the changes, Welsh patients were astounded that the Welsh Government is exhibiting such total lack of concern for their health.
“The First Minister continues to argue that this is an England only issue and that the Labour-Plaid Government does not need to engage in the consultation. This is simply wrong.”
The spokesperson for the Welsh Assembly Government has confirmed the First Minister has received a letter from Mick Bates and will reply.
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SUCH inaction is in marked contrast to a schoolgirl from Guilsfield who has shown an amazing level of gumption and good public spiritedness.
11-year-old Phoebe Betts has organised a petition to get a pavement for the village, to allow people to walk and get more exercise.
The proposed stretch of pavement would also allow the public to walk to the Derwen Garden Centre. She has gathered 350 signatures already and with her gran, local community councillor Olive Williams, will present it to the community council next week.
That’s the kind of spirit that could really get things done here in Powys. Read her inspirational story on page 15 of this week's paper.