By Judith Phillips, Reporter
SOMETIMES I get the feeling I'm living in a Third World country instead of 21st century hi-technology Britain.
This has been reinforced by recent stories I've written for the Weekly News which reflect the way many people believe our National Health Service is in crisis in North Wales.
First we have the debacle of the proposal by health minister Edwina Hart that patients from North Wales needing "routine" neurosurgery should travel to either Swansea of Cardiff rather than Walton Hospital in Liverpool for treatment.
While sympathising with her vision of an all-Wales health service, it is difficult to understand how anyone (other than a minister with a South Wales constituency) could come up with such a ludicrous suggestion.
The front page story in our September 19th edition graphically illustrates the folly of requiring people to travel more than 200 miles for major surgery. At such a time it is vital patients have their family with them to give them help and support, but the logistics of achieving this when they are faced with a four or five hour road or rail journey and the cost of hotel accommodation don't seem to have been given a moment's thought by Ms Hart.
Such has been the public outcry that last week she announced that an eminent neurosurgeon from Edinburgh is to lead an independent review into the service in Wales. We can only hope and pray he comes up with a report that supports the needs of North Wales patients.
Talking about independent reviews brings me to the topic of breast surgery services at Llandudno Hospital, which we as a newspaper have been fighting to retain through our Hands Off Our Hospital campaign. Local health trusts would like to see this valuable unit split between Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd at Bodelwyddan, even though several expert clinicians say the Llandudno facility is more than capable of being developed into a centre of excellence for this speciality.
As a result of public protest Conwy Local Health Board commissioned an independent review into the service which - surprise, surprise - has come down in favour of the original proposal and makes the astonishing claim that even investing "unlimited amounts of money" into Llandudno Hospital wouldn't provide a service of the required standard. My understanding is that if you throw enough money at something, anything is possible, but apparently not.
Third, but not least, there is the experience of 88-year-old Bertha Hughes from Llandudno who was taken to the accident and emergency department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd after she fell injuring her leg and endured a nightmare experience. To read the full story see this week's Weekly News.
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Boris wrote...
Well said JP!
Posted by: Boris | October 1, 2007 3:40 PM