Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, has called on the Health Minister to make an urgent statement in light of a health board’s plans to stop some non-elective orthopaedic surgery during this coming winter.
Yesterday (21 October), Hywel Dda Health Board set-out proposals on how it will deal with the expected increased activity over the winter season, which included the planned delay of some elective orthopaedic operations across its hospitals in Mid and West Wales. Mr George, raised his concerns with the Minister for Government Business, following the failure of the Welsh Government to schedule any statement on the issue, denying Assembly Member’s the opportunity to ask key questions.
Commenting, Mr George said:
“This is extremely concerning news for patients living in Montgomeryshire who may be waiting for hip or knee surgery at Bronglais and therefore it is only right that Health Minister come before the National Assembly to answer our questions.
“While I understand that these are still proposals which are being consulted on by the LHB internally, patients in Montgomeryshire are now alarmed that they are going to be left in pain for many months more if these plans are agreed; they are rightly justified in wanting to know why it has decided to take this action.
“While winter is always a challenging time of year for the NHS because of increased service pressures, it seems the Health Board already has underlying problems relating to shortages of key clinical staff.
“My office has been told anecdotally by one member of staff at Bronglais that they have been informed that a moratorium on these orthopaedic operations is already in place until further notice – which I find strange given these options are still being consulting on.
“The other issue that needs consideration is what additional pressures this potential decision will have on hospitals outside of the Hywel Dda region and particularly for patients in Montgomeryshire, those in Shrewsbury and Gobowen, who are also dealing with their own capacity challenges.
“The Health Minister is ultimately responsible for the Welsh NHS and he needs to provide urgent answers to these issues and I would expect him to do that this week.”