BRIDGEND MP Jamie Wallis and Regional Senedd Member Altaf Hussain have joined forces to back plans by Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board to concentrate orthopaedic surgery at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.
The board has outlined proposals to focus all its elective orthopaedic surgery at Llantrisant where there will be two theatres and a ring-fenced ward made available exclusively for this work - with a third theatre coming on stream later. There will also be capacity available to the board at Neath Port Talbot Hospital which has been designated the orthopaedic hub for the Swansea Bay Health Board.
Both Welsh Conservative politicians have been urging Welsh Government to follow England's lead and set up regional surgical hubs in Wales to clear the huge backlog of people waiting, in some cases, more than two years for elective orthopaedic surgery which includes hip and knee replacements.
Jamie said: “While Welsh Government has been slow to respond to calls for surgical hubs and diagnostic centres to be established even though we in Wales have more than 700,000 people on hospital waiting lists, it is good that CTM has seized the initiative like this, They have my full support.
“While it means that patients may have to travel further to get the operations they need, I am sure that the overwhelming majority will accept this if it reduces the time they have to spend in pain awaiting surgery.”
Dr Hussain, who is a retired orthopaedic surgeon himself, also welcomed the news. He said: “I have witnessed the effect that these heartbreaking delays have on far too many patients. A recent report by the Swansea Bay CHC found that some patients were so distressed by the pain they are suffering that they had considered taking their own lives. This is an intolerable situation.
“I believe that this plan will massively increase the throughput of patients as there will be no need for the cancellations which occur all the time at present if the theatre is suddenly needed for an emergency operation or if there is no bed available for the patient to go into after surgery.
“By ring fencing a ward and setting aside theatres for the exclusive use of orthopaedic surgeons, the likelihood of unexpected delays can be almost eliminated.
“The board is proposing that trauma patients be dealt with either at Princess of Wales or Prince Charles Hospitals so sudden emergencies caused by road accidents or other unforeseen events will be dealt with at these two hospitals.”
The board reports that staff have been consulted and are prepared to travel to Llantrisant to work as they have been very frustrated by the delays and cancellations that have reduced their capacity to deal with these cases.
The board is hoping to bring these changes into effect in July.