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Reduced opening hours at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr’s minor injuries unit will become permanent from May 6, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has confirmed.
The hospital in Ystrad Mynach serves as one of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board’s four minor injuries units (MIUs), which together receive around half of Gwent’s urgent and emergency care patients.
The health board paused 24-hour treatment at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr MIU in March 2020, as the NHS geared up to deal with the new threat of Covid-19.
At a board meeting on Wednesday January 24, Aneurin Bevan’s public board confirmed it would make that change permanent.
A report to the public board shows that between April 2022 and August 2023, the MIU at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr saw between 51 and 90 patients per day.
This equates to roughly three patients per hour, based on the hospital’s opening hours.
The report noted “a significant imbalance between opening hours and patient demand” across Aneurin Bevan’s MIUs.
From May 11, the MIU’s opening hours will continue to be 7am to 1am, seven days a week.
At the meeting, the board also decided to reduce the opening hours of Nevill Hall Hospital’s MIU, in Abergavenny, to the same 7am to 1am window as Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr.
The opening hours of Gwent’s MIU
| Nevill Hall Hospital,Abergavenny | Open 18 hours every day from 7am to 1am, seven days a week |
| Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr,Ystrad Mynach | Open 18 hours every day from 7am to 1am, seven days a week |
| Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan,Ebbw Vale | Open ten hours, from 9am to 7pm, Monday to Friday [excluding bank holidays] |
| Royal Gwent Hospital,Newport | Open 24 hours, seven days a week |
Why is Caerphilly in Gwent?
Caerphilly County Borough was formed on April 1, 1996, by the merger of the Rhymney Valley district of Mid Glamorgan with the Islwyn borough of Gwent.
Administratively, for local services such as the police and health, the borough now falls under a wider region referred to as Gwent. This comprises the council areas of Caerphilly, Newport, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Monmouthshire.
Speaking in January this year, when the decision was made to cmake the temporary reduction permanent, Peredur Owen Griffiths, Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales East, said the move would heap more pressure on the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran.
Claire McCarthy, consultant nurse for emergency care at the health board, said: “We recognise the concerns expressed by many people and we have taken time to listen, understand and put additional measures in place as a result.
“Reducing the overnight opening hours of two of our units will allow us to use our limited resources in the most effective way for our patients and our staff, and to ensure they are sustainable for the future.”
Additional reporting by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
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