Veteran Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen councillor Ray Davies has backed a campaign for a full Accident and Emergency department at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr.
Known locally as ‘Red Ray’, the Labour firebrand has said he will join campaigners on a protest march through Caerphilly town tomorrow (Saturday February 16).
In a letter to Caerphilly Observer, Cllr Davies said: “The appalling neglect of patients exposed in the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust Enquiry Report must be a wake-up call for every political leader, including Carwyn Jones.
“He is embarking on a reorganisation of the NHS in Wales which is already causing pain and heartache here in Caerphilly. He states that cuts are needed because of the financial strain posed by an ageing population. What a topsy turvy logic. It is because of our ageing population that we need better facilities, not less.
“The new hospital in Ystrad Mynach is an example of that twisted logic. When the proposals for a new hospital were on the drawing board, the impression given was that it was to replace the Caerphilly Miners’ Hospital.”
Cllr Davies, who previously campaigned to save maternity services at the Miners’ added: “The old Caerphilly district hospital was built with the pennies of the miners of the Rhymney Valley. It provided a first class emergency service which saved the lives of many miners, and a brilliant maternity unit. It gave 60 years of fantastic service to the local people, who viewed it with tremendous affection.
“In contrast, there have already been many tales of woe about the new hospital in Ystrad Mynach. Road signs mark it as a “Minor Emergency Department”, and so patients head there with injuries such as a broken arm, expecting to be treated. But because it has no X Ray department, and no doctors, they are told they cannot be dealt with there, and must go in an ambulance to the Royal Gwent in Newport. After waiting hours for the ambulance, they are then taken to the Gwent, where they wait yet again to be treated. I have heard horror stories of patients left lying on a trolley for the whole evening.”
Mariam Kamish, the chair of the campaign to bring A&E services to Ysbuty Ystrad Fawr, said: “We’re calling on local councillors to conduct a referendum on the issue.
“They had a duty of care when this hospital was in the planning stages to go through every detail and find out what was planned. They failed in that. Not one of them blew the whistle.
“We’re giving them a chance to redeem themselves in some small measure by giving local people a voice. Nothing could be more important than having an A&E near to hand when you need it.”
Campaigners will be meeting at St Martin’s Road, opposite the old Caerphilly Miners’ Hospital at 11.30am and marching off at 12 noon through the town for a rally near the cenotaph.
The £172m Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr, which opened in November 2011 and replaced Caerphilly Miners’ Hospital, currently has a local emergency centre for minor injuries.
The campaign is also selling t-shirts, for people to show their support, which can be ordered at £6.95 each by contacting Mariam Kamish on 07772520192.
The campaign currently has more than 1,700 members on its Facebook Group and more than 1,000 names on an online petition.
Well said Ray, to not have an A & E at Ystrad Fawr is a shocking waste of investment. It is time that the bean counters and box tickers that seem to run the show listened to the people that pay for the health service – we, the tax payer.
Ray Davies, pensioner, serious international campaigner, long time Labour Councillor, and ` young father`, is still prepared and is fit enough to `march` the roads in a local Campaign shoulder to shoulder with people he represents.
How many other elected Borough and Community Councillors will be take Ray`s Lead and will be spotted, `marching` on Saturday supporting the very citizens who elected them to public office,??????…. Perhaps the Observer could run a competition, ` count the Politicians.
Why should we believe or trust Ray Davies?. He is a mamber of the Labour Party that created the mess in the first place, its easy to be wise after the event, but why didnt he fight for an A and E in Ystrad when it ws in the planning stage, seems like crocodile tears to me.
The Health Board would like to confirm that there are X ray facilities
available at the hospital and patients attending the Minor Injuries Unit who require an X ray can have this done. Although the Minor Injuries Unit is a 24/7 nurse led unit there are doctors in the Local Emergency Centre providing support to the Medical Assessment Unit and within the GP Out of Hours Service.
The Aneurin Bevan Health Board assures us that there are X-ray facilities available at Ystrad Fawr Cottage Hospital, I am very pleased. One question for them, if I arrive there after being knocked off my motorbike outside the hospital, suffering a fractured femur am I going to be X-rayed and treated there?
I look forward to a prompt reply.
Could the Aneurin Bevan Health Board comment on the way that some of the medical facilities at the Ystrad Hospital were dropped during the planning process. What`s the point of an XRay facility without an A and E unit. In an ideal world the Aneurin Bevan Health Board wuold be wound up and the people of Caerphilly could go to the Heath, rather than Ystrad, the Royal Gwent of Prince Charles.
Ron: `No Comment`, appears to be the Aneurin Bevan Health Board`s Response????
The example you have used of a road traffic accident which includes the fracture of a femur would probably need an expert trauma team and emergency theatres in addition to an Accident and Emergency Department. Also, depending on the seriousness it would possibly need specialist critical care. This is an example of when a patient would need a specialist service such as provided at the Royal Gwent Hospital, rather than a local service. Previously an accident of this kind including a fractured femur would not have gone to the former Caerphilly District Miners' Hospital.
In Caerffili, we can go to Cardiff still. There, the Heath does in fact have the right doctors.
The reply from Aneurin Bevan Health Board is misleading, such an injury would have been treated at the Miners within my memory. When I was admitted to the Miners with a suspected fractured skull I spent a few days there as a patient. During this time I saw people with such injuries recovering after surgery at this hospital. The hospital was designed to treat men injured terribly underground and could do so.
What happened was the services offered, at the Miners, were gradually chipped away, starting in the 1980's. For their own convenience, and to champion their agenda for the future, the bean counters and box tickers of the health board now compare the present day situation with the shadow they they had made of that hospital.
The Miners could never match facilities at the Heath, which is a teaching hospital, but would beat the Royal Gwent on any measure of health care before run-down began.