Victory for Royal Glam A&E!

By Dave Reid

Cwm Taf Health Board (CTUHB) has announced that it intends to retain a 24 hour Accident and Emergency Department at Royal Glamorgan Hospital. This represents a huge victory for health campaigners in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area and a setback for the Welsh government’s plans to downgrade the hospital and close the A&E department there.

The board has announced that they have successfully recruited enough medical staff to work in the department after claiming that it was not possible to find the consultants to replace the current consultant who is retiring. In a Senedd hearing they admitted that there had not been much of an effort to recruit staff.

Its quite clear now, as Socialist Party Wales warned, that the health board had been running down the department as part of the Welsh government’s South Wales Programme of closing local hospital services and centering them at a few hospitals, some of which were very difficult for patients to access.  They hoped that faced with a staff crisis at the A&E at the hospital they could finally force through the closure of the department that was originally planned in 2013.

But the sheer scale of the campaign has forced the health board and the Welsh government to retreat and to actively attempt to recruit consultants for the A&E at Royal Glam. Spearheaded by the Save Royal Glamorgan Hospital A&E campaign, thousands of working class people across Rhondda Cynon Taff have thrown themselves into the defence of their hospital that has involved the active participation of hospital workers, doctors and nurses at the hospital and patient groups. Over 1000 hospital workers signed Unite’s petition. Communities across the Rhondda valleys were festooned with the orange bows of the campaign.

Over 500 rallied mid week at the Senedd pressurising the Assembly to pass a motion in support of the A&E in defiance of the first minister and health minister. Another 500 massed outside the meeting of the Health Board with over 100 pouring into the meeting itself.

Even the floods that have caused over £100 million damage in the area did not dampen the mood – they intensified the anger.

Now we must make sure that Cwm Taf Health Board come good with their promise to keep the A&E and that it adequately staffed and resourced and that all the other services that have been cut or threatened with being cut from the hospital are retained or returned – maternity care, baby care and children’s hospital care.

And the Welsh government must officially rescind the South Wales Programme and ensure that decent hospital facilities are readily available to all our communities – no more health cuts!