More than 6,000 people have signed a petition calling for a full 24-hour Accident and Emergency department at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr in Ystrad Mynach.
The £172m hospital, which opened in November 2011, has a local emergency centre for minor injuries. Campaigners say this is not enough and that Caerphilly County Borough needs its own A&E.
A further 1,400 people have signed an online petition and that its Facebook group has 1,900 members.
The campaign group is to hold its next meeting on Tuesday May 28 at 7.30pm at Bedwas Workmen’s Hall.
Brenda Tibbett, chief steward of the campaign, said: “People in Bedwas and Trethomas have been asking us to come there for months.
“To be honest, we’re trying to cover a huge geographical area, so we’re pulled in ten directions at once. Loads of people are sending in petitions and getting in touch. People ask to join the Facebook group every day.
“At the meeting in Bedwas on May 28, we’ll be holding elections for the committee. If anyone wants to nominate someone or to volunteer themselves, they can do it on the night. But, this isn’t a one-off. Anyone can get involved at any time.
“We need as many people as possible to come to the meeting, because we’ll be planning the lobby of the local council, where we’ll put in the letter asking for a referendum on the A&E. That will be a perfect opportunity for people to make their feelings known.”
She added: “Nothing is more important than knowing that, if you have a sick or injured child or anyone in your family needs emergency treatment, you have an A&E near at hand and equipped to help.
“Nye Bevan said, ‘We will have an NHS as long as people are prepared to fight for it.’ So come along and get involved.”
Yesterday details of the reorganisation of South Wales hospital services were announced.
Under the South Wales Programme, which the Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr campaigners are also against, consultant-led services for A&E, neonatal, maternity and inpatient children’s services could be centralised in four or five hospitals.
Under four options put forward by five health boards, the centres would include the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, Morriston Hospital near Swansea and a new hospital to be built at Llanfrechfa Grange near Cwmbran.
The new hospital would have some of its services transferred from the Royal Gwent in Newport and Nevill Hall in Abergavenny.
The fourth or fifth centres could be Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend or the Royal Glamorgan near Llantrisant.
I am 100 percent behind this campaign. We have been deprived of what was once a 24 hour casualty department (Now called A & E) hospital. The new 'cottage' hospital at Ystrad Fawr is large enough to deserve a doctor led A & E to serve the 70,000 households of the borough.
I fear that the outcome of 'South Wales Programme' has already been decided upon behind closed doors and with the connivance of tame politicians. I predict the so called consultation will prove to be a sham. Those in charge have little interest in what the public wants from their health service. They consider us as unqualified to hold a rational opinion and a tiresome drag on their grand plans.
Have they not read/watched/listened to the news not just locally but nationally… Where do they propose they get a) the staff from? b) the money to fund the A&E?
When was the Miners last a 24 hour casualty?
As an after thought one ever complained about Caerphilly Miners… now you have a hospital in Ystrad Mynach that sees more patients, does more and has excellent facilities everyone complains. Lets face it within 15 – 20 mins you have access to both the Gwent and Heath. A poor service? I think not!!!
We don’t have the gwent anymore either! It’s just Cwmbran, Cardiff, Swansea and that’s it, for someone who don’t drive like myself it’s a massive let down to our community. I think we deserve better than to have to travel that far to get medical help in an emergency, let’s hope it don’t cost people’s lives.
Mariam Kamish, Chair of the "A&E Needed for Ystrad Fawr Hospital Campaign" says… The consultation period was meant to start in the beginning of January. It was delayed until June, because of the strength of feeling shown by the public. Consultation meetings will be taking place throughout June and into July. We need to see the highest possible attendance at those meetings. People need to make their views known. Here are the meeting details. Note that there are no meetings scheduled for Caerphilly, Blackwood or Bargoed. If people think there should be, it may be worth ringing the Community Health Council.
June 5 6pm –8pm Castle Room, Newport Centre, 1 Kingsway, 70 maximum
Di Watkins 01495 241 200 Newport NP20 1UH
June 13 6pm-8pm Blaenavon Workingmen’s Hall, High Street, 120 maximum
Andrew Deans 01495 241 200 Blaenavon, Pontypool NP4 9PT
June 19 5pm-7pm Llanhilleth Miners Institute, Llanhilleth, Abertillery, 200 maximum Ian Haywood 01495 241 200 Blaenau Gwent NP13 2JT
June 20 6pm – 8pm The Chambers, Ty Penalta House, Tredomen Park, 120 maximum – Jonathan Lewis 01495 241 200 Hengoed, CF82 7PG
July 4 6pm-8pm Newbridge Comprehensive School, Bridge St Newbridge, 100 maxiumum – Jonathan Lewis 01495 241 200 Caerphilly NP11 5FR
The Miners Hospital last had 24 hour A & E in about 1980, I may be showing my age but that does not seem long ago to me. More importantly it had some form of A & E until 2011. It seem the staff and money to provide this service were in place until recently.
I read the stories from around the country on A & E closures and realise we are not in a unique situation. The question is what do we want from our health service? Within my memory the more minor injuries, such as a few sutures, sprains, etc were treated by GPs. This ceased almost entirely when the last government changed the role of a GP. If you attend a doctor's surgery with an injury that needs treatment you are referred to hospital. This increases the load on the, ever fewer, casualty deprtments we still possess.
We need to overhaul the entire system, the South Wales Programme is a cynical attempt to paper over the cracks that a yawning wide in the health service. It will not be found satisfactory by the patients and will end up in deaths that would have been prevented back in those grim old 1980's.
The cry used to be that Caerphilly Miners' Hospital had become inadequate, due to its age and the growing population. The old building was no longer efficient, parking facilities were grim and a brand new hospital was sorely needed to be able to cope with the needs of a community, which had grown exponentially since the Miners' hospital first came into existence.
The community didn't get a choice when the Miners' closed its doors to emergency patients at 6 pm. The decision was imposed upon us. UHW Cardiff, or The Royal Gwent, Newport were undeniably better equipped to deal with A&E matters, but both are quite a trek to reach. The Gwent, in particular, is an absolute nightmare for parking. Hugely stressful.
It appeared that the new Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr hospital would be a wonderful asset to the community. Easy to reach from most points of the Valleys, everything housed beneath one roof, instead of the Miners' porta-cabins. Lots of parking spaces – even a new road lay-out to ensure we could all reach this wonderful new edifice easily.
At last! A state of the art hospital, which would provide medical care without patients having to lose precious minutes on a long trek to Cardiff or Newport………… wrong! One is STILL likely to be re-directed to the Gwent, after first faffing about, being assessed by a triage nurse. Might as well head straight for the Gwent and take your place in the traffic queue.
The ultimate insult, is to be told there are no doctors to provide A&E cover…? Really…..? With great respect, but is it really that impossible to work out shift-rotas to ensure the presence of a doctor or two? No one is suggesting that an individual doctor should work 24/7, but for goodness sake… a heck of a lot of other professions/occupations manage to provide 24/7 cover by employing shift systems. Even those who are in less rewarding occupations, with very little job satisfaction.
Quite a few doctors find time to dedicate to consulting in Private hospitals. Perhaps this partly explains why there are so few of them available to provide A&E care to the less well-off who rely on NHS "care."
Annie, bless you, the point is made far more eloquently, by you, than my effort. We are rapidly regressing to a healthcare system, despite advances in medicine, that is as bad as the 1920’s. This was the very reason that the mineworkers decided that they would devote some of their hard earned money to fund a real hospital. I am very, very concerned for the future prospects of reasonable trauma treatment in the Rhymney Valley and Caerffili.