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Minister 'regrets' surgery move Minister 'regrets' surgery move
(about 1 hour later)
Welsh Health Minister Brian Gibbons says he "regrets" a Carmarthenshire NHS Trust decision to end emergency surgery at Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli.Welsh Health Minister Brian Gibbons says he "regrets" a Carmarthenshire NHS Trust decision to end emergency surgery at Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli.
All such operations will move to West Wales General in Carmarthen on Friday.All such operations will move to West Wales General in Carmarthen on Friday.
Dr Gibbons ordered an inquiry into why the changes were being made and said he wanted the service to continue while the inquiry was conducted.Dr Gibbons ordered an inquiry into why the changes were being made and said he wanted the service to continue while the inquiry was conducted.
But Carmarthenshire NHS Trust said it had to press ahead with the move to protect patient safety.But Carmarthenshire NHS Trust said it had to press ahead with the move to protect patient safety.
Hospital campaigners have accused trust managers of "engineering" the situation by not replacing a retiring surgeon.Hospital campaigners have accused trust managers of "engineering" the situation by not replacing a retiring surgeon.
The trust has written to the ambulance service, GPs and other bodies informing them of the move. The trust has written to the ambulance service, GPs and other bodies informing them of the move announced at a trust board meeting last week.
Clinical director Martin Taube said: "Continuing with the delivery of general surgical services as they are currently organised will place them (patients) in immediate and serious jeopardy. It has defended its decision to press ahead with the change that was recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons two years ago.
"The changes however will allow us to develop Prince Philip Hospital as our main elective surgical site with immense benefits. Any response I was going to make could not happen until those representations were made to me Dr Brian Gibbons, health minister
It's quite breathtaking but they are the authors or their own misfortune Paul Harris, hospital campaigner Clinical director Martin Taube said: "I don't think we could have done any more over the past few years.
"The streamlining of care will enable surgical consultants to deliver emergency care free from elective commitments, and to concentrate on their elective work when operating at Prince Philip." "We've had public meetings, we've had private meetings, we've had workshops the public has been invited to, we've talked to the councils both in Carmarthen and Llanelli.
"I think everything we've done is compatible entirely with government policy."
The trust said for the last four years emergency surgery had only been carried out from 9am to 5pm in Llanelli, and recently this had amounted to between one and five operations a day.The trust said for the last four years emergency surgery had only been carried out from 9am to 5pm in Llanelli, and recently this had amounted to between one and five operations a day.
Two years ago the Royal College of Surgeons recommended centralising emergency operations at one of the two sites. 'Positive benefit'
The decision to go ahead with the changes was announced at a trust board meeting last week. Dr Gibbons has been accused of "electioneering" ahead of May's assembly elections after this week ordering an inquiry into the move.
Mr Gibbons said on Monday he was ordering an inquiry into the move, provoking claims of "electioneering" ahead of May's assembly elections. He told BBC Wales's Dragon's Eye programme he could understand this point of view, given the proximity of the elections, but had been constrained by the timetable of events.
36,000 petition He said: "The community health council in Carmarthenshire only made its decision (to back the change in surgery services) at the end of November.
Hospital campaigner Paul Harris said the trust had been forced to centralise emergency operations as it had not replaced a senior surgeon at Llanelli. "And the representations that came to me didn't come till certainly mid December, so any response I was going to make could not happen until those representations were made to me."
"They have dispensed with his services and now have turned around and said 'Oh dear its clinically unsafe'. What the trust is doing is abiding by what has been done successfully in England Prof Ceri Phillips, health economist
"It's quite breathtaking but they are the authors or their own misfortune. On the same programme, the Labour MP for Llanelli, Nia Griffith, described the decision to stop emergency surgery as "disgraceful".
"It was an unnecessary move and that is why we have pushed for an inquiry. The Conservatives' health spokesman, Jonathan Morgan, said Dr Gibbons' intervention was due to Llanelli being Labour's most marginal assembly seat, with a majority of 21 votes.
"Personally I don't care if the inquiry takes a month or three months or which political party benefits but the 36,000 people who signed our petition against the move deserve the truth." He said: "The (assembly) government set the general framework, so whatever the hospital did they did it within the framework set out by the assembly government.
Campaigners against the surgery move have collected a 36,000-name petition against what they say is a downgrading of the hospital.
Professor Ceri Phillips, a health economist at the University of Wales, Swansea, said: "I think the term "downgrading" is an unfortunate one.
"What the trust is doing is abiding by what has been done successfully in England."
He said ending emergency surgery at the hospital would make it less likely for routine operations to be delayed or cancelled.
He said: "Those people waiting for treatment in Llanelli can see this as a positive benefit, because they know that when they're told they will be going in to hospital, the high probability is it that they will be in on that day, at that time."