Whilst out canvassing over the past week I have had several complaints about what is happening to the Llandudno Minor Injuries Unit. This is not ac Accident and Emergency Unit but it is supposed to offer a 24hrs service. As readers of the Weekly News might have noticed it is not a 24hr unit at the present time. This is the actual notice on the door;

Now there are several areas of concern;

1. Since October the 24hr Minor Injury Service at Llandudno has been a nurse led service. There has been no doctors available after 11pm since then with the European Working Time Directive being blamed by the Health Trust (thank you Tony Blair and Gordon Brown).

2. Staff shortages have been blamed by the Trust for the service being closed at night for a week (as evidenced by the picture above). However, I am very confident is stating that the staff shortages are not at Llandudno but at Bangor. My understanding is that the Trust has decided to close Llandudno at night in order to allow nurses to be transferred to Bangor to help out with a shortage of staff at A&E in Ysbyty Gwynedd. The fact that the Trust is apparently paying for taxi transport back and forth can wait for comment at another time but clearly there is an issue here in terms of the priorities of the Trust. A town and surrounding area with a population of over 30,000 is losing a 24hr minor injury service in order to allow the A&E department at Bangor to be staffed by nurses from Llandudno.

3. As the picture shows the public are advised to make their way to Bangor or call 999. In view of the current stretched Ambulance cover in the area has there been any steps taken by Trust to ensure that ambulance cover for the Llandudno area has been increased to ensure that transporting any patient to Ysbyty Gwynedd does not leave Llandudno without any ambulance cover?

I will be asking these questions of the Betsi Cadwaladr Trust tomorrow morning - if you have any experience or information in relation to these changes then please feel free to contact me in confidence. My mobile number is 07767 493750.

Finally it should be noted that when the picture was taken (by a party member from Llandudno) the member in question was given two conflicting reports of the situation by the the unit manager;

1. Only four people use the Minor Injuries Unit per night between the hours in question (10am - 8pm). Staff were being utilised to deal with a short term shortage of trained nurses at Bangor

2. The Trust will save £500k per year by closing the unit during these hours (2 senior nurses + 1 doctor).

Now why would the figures for savings be so readily available if the closure was only for 1 week as stated in the Weekly News? A £500k saving must have been costed AND discussed I suspect. Secondly is the loss of the Doctor since October due to the working time directive or the beginning of the end of the 24hr Minor Injury Service at Llandudno?

The current developments in relation to the Minor Injury Unit demands a response from the Betsi Cadwaladr Trust.

Guto

One Response to “What is happening at Llandudno Minor Injuries Unit?”