For those of you who have not been following the story, this was a meeting called to protest at the plans of Edwina Hart, Welsh Assembly health minister, to require North Wales patients to travel to South Wales for elective neurosurgery. The town hall was packed, with more than 100 people attending. The media were also out in force.
There was an impressive degree of political consensus on display. My friend and colleague, Hywel Williams, Plaid Cymru MP for Caernarfon, spoke against the proposals and in favour of continuing the present links with Walton. Two local Labour councillors expressed their disgust at Mrs. Hart’s scheme and said that they were going to take part in a delegation to Cardiff to see her.
Most moving, however, were the patients and relatives of patients who spoke of their appreciation for what the Walton centre had done for them. Nobody wanted to have to travel to South Wales.
Edwina Hart is all over the shop on this issue now. She was invited to attend the meeting, but declined to do so. On Thursday evening, she sent me an e-mailed letter telling me that the meeting had been arranged on a “false premise”. No decision had been made, she said, to require patients to travel to South Wales, and any suggestion to the contrary was “scaremongering”.
The people attending the meeting, however, thought otherwise. Given the clear and unambiguous policy announcement made by Mrs. Hart on 4 July, their scepticism is understandable. What she said was this:
“My overriding aim is to secure as many services as can be safely provided within Wales’s boundaries. Of course, there will always be rare conditions and highly specialist services that can only be supported by populations greater than the population of Wales. This means that, in order to get the best possible treatment, there will always be some patients who must travel outside Wales for the services that they require. However, where the Welsh population base is sufficient to support an in-country service, that is the way in which I wish to proceed.
“Therefore, in the case of adult neurosurgery, the approach that I now intend to adopt is one in which we will look as actively as possible at redirecting additional elective work generated inside Wales to the two centres at Swansea and Cardiff. I stress that I am talking here about planned operations; I have no intention of transferring emergency work from outside the area into south Wales. However, where patients know sufficiently in advance to be able to plan for the operations required, I think that planning can allow for that work to be undertaken within Wales, particularly where that may make the difference between having a Welsh-based service or the prospect of having to give up that service.”
Mrs. Hart would be well advised to perform as graceful a u-turn as possible on this issue. In her understandable enthusiasm to save the neurosurgery unit at Swansea, she has stirred up the biggest political hornets’ nest North Wales has seen for very many years.
Thank you for organising the meeting, it certainly was well attended!
What a cross section of the community and political spectrum.
It was Lovely to see Hywell Williams by your side, what a nice man!
People who proudly introduced them selves as Labour party officials acting and speaking as if it were nothing to with them came over a little rich!
I think the evening will be remembered by myself as belonging to the ordinary members of the public though.
Who will forget the Welsh lady who was a ex nurse some years ago at Walton hospital speaking with such passion and conviction, the lady patient from walton in tears of anxiety over the possible transfering of her treatment to Cardiff or swansea.
I think the fight is in safe hands with you and your fellow MP’s, the Arsembly members, are some what second rate in the expression of protest.
Has Brynly Williams a speech impediment, he kept using a couple of welsh words in each sentence.Most distracting from what he was trying to get across!
Thank you david, and pass our thanks on to Mr williams for attending.
I can see why you appear to be friends as well as collegues.
Ps ,I am in the picture just!!
I too was at the meeting you called. Very well Chaired and attended David !
My own father had an operation this week,he had to go private, due to the fact there was a 9 month wait to see the specialst from Gobwen(England]then a poosible 3 year wait for the operation.
Down to Assembly funding.
At his age it was far too long to wait.
He is only grateful , he had the means to have the operation.
So many are not in that position.
Would this be the case if threr were no assembly I wonder?
You warned those of us that were Conwy residents as long ago as 1997, that should apathy prevail, this could be the result.
More fool those of us that did not heed your wise words.
Emlyn is right!
I voted for you twice here in Conwy, election and assembly!
Keep the pressure up David.
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