Major Trauma Centre location should be National Assembly decision

Dai Lloyd calls on Abertawe Bro Morgannwg and Hywel Dda Health Boards to reject MTC proposal next week

Plaid AM Dai Lloyd has called on Abertawe Bro Morgannwg and Hywel Dda Health Boards to reject today’s proposal by the NHS Wales Collaborative to establish South Wales’ Major Trauma Centre in Cardiff, at the expense of Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

Dr. Lloyd, who has been a long-standing supporter of the Morriston Hospital case believes that the decision, given its strategic importance, should be one taken by the Cabinet Secretary for Health, and that elected representatives at the National Assembly for Wales should have a chance to discuss and vote on the matter.

Dr. Lloyd stated:

“Today’s recommendation by the NHS Wales Collaborative is hugely disappointing for those of us who believe that Wales needs a health service which is not solely delivered from Cardiff.

“Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board had put forward a very strong bid that the Major Trauma Centre should be based at Morriston hospital, Swansea which already has the Burns and Plastics Centre on site. In my view, the geographical positioning of Morriston is vital – not only in terms of equity of access, particularly for patients in South, West and Mid Wales, but also in terms of protecting a Trauma Service in Wales in the long-term from any subsequent UK-wide reviews.

“This issue is of such strategic importance that the decision in my view has to be taken by elected representatives at the National Assembly. I am therefore calling on Abertawe Bro Morgannwg and Hywel Dda Health Boards to stand up for patients in South West Wales, to stick to their guns, and support the original and very strong bid by ABM Health Board that the Centre should be based in Morriston.

“Let’s be clear - the future of Morriston Hospital as a regional centre of excellence is under threat. The political decision to move neurosurgery and paediatric neurosurgery services from Morriston Hospital to Cardiff was taken just over a decade ago by the Labour Welsh Government, and that very move is now being used to justify the establishment of the MTC in Cardiff instead of Swansea.

“We know that previous UK-wide reviews of certain specialties, such as Paediatric cardiac surgery, have seen services which were based in Swansea, lost to Cardiff and were then subsequently lost to Bristol. The reason for this was that Cardiff and Bristol were deemed to be too close together geographically. NHS Wales must mitigate the risk of this type of domino effect and this is why I believe that the decision should ultimately be one for the Welsh Government and our National Assembly.”