Fears Raised Over Future of Maternity Services at Wrexham Maelor Hospital

Fears over the future of consultant-led maternity services at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital have been raised amid changes which could result in more than 1000 babies a year being transferred to the Countess of Chester.

The concerns come as a result of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the ways in which maternity services are delivered in three North Wales Hospitals.

Obstetric (consultant-led) services are currently delivered at three hospitals across North Wales: Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan and Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

However Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board state that: “Despite numerous and repeated efforts to recruit more doctors, we do not have enough medical staff to run three stable hospital rotas. This is because there are issues nationally with a shortage of middle grade doctors who are vital to running our service, and difficulties in recruiting to rural areas such as North Wales.”

A formal consultation on the proposed temporary changes to maternity services across North Wales was launched on Monday and will take place until October 5th.

The consultation lists four proposed options for temporary changes to maternity services, however the document does note that the health board’s preferred arrangement is to provisionally suspend consultant-led maternity services at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

The four options put forward in the consultation are listed below:

The temporary changes to maternity services at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital would result in a lack of consultant-led service, no emergency and inpatient gynaecology and no inpatient breast surgery provided at the hospital.

If the  changes to maternity services at the Wrexham Maelor are found to be preferable, around 1,700 emergency and inpatient gynaecology patients would transfer from Wrexham Maelor Hospital. This would result in more than 1000 babies a year being transferred to the Countess of Chester.

However Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have faced criticised for including the temporary changes to the Wrexham Maelor Hospital in the consultation, with the decision branded as ‘farcical’ by one spokesperson.

Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru – The Party Of Wales’s Clwyd South spokesperson said: “Including Wrexham maternity services in the Health Board’s consultation is farcical. It should concentrate on sorting out the problems of their own making. I have written to the Health Board’s Chairman insisting that they review their consultation process.

“The fact that Wrexham Maelor’s maternity services has been included at all is a charade. There have been no investigations and critical reports regarding services at Wrexham. Back in January it was revealed that the health board was intent on downgrading consultant-led maternity services at Glan Clwyd, which would have resulted in Wrexham losing its Breast Cancer Services.

“This was done with no consultation and with some very dubious arguments. Their argument then was that the service at Glan Clwyd was unsafe due to low staffing levels and infighting amongst staff. This is due to the Health Board’s systemic failure in recruiting and training sufficient staff. That decision was successfully challenged by mass public opposition and a legal challenge, forcing a health board rethink.”

The consultation has sparked outrage amongst people across North Wales. Locally a petition calling for ‘Betsi Cadwaladr to retain doctor-led services in all three district hospitals’ has been started by Welsh Assembly Candidate for Plaid Cymru, Carrie Harper. At the time of writing the petition has gained 1442 signatures.

A ‘Save Wrexham Maelor Hospital Maternity Services‘ Facebook page has also been launched Welsh Assembly Candidate for the Conservative Party, Andrew Atkinson. The Facebook page, which went live on Wednesday has already received almost 5,500 likes.

On Saturday an event that aims to raise awareness of the consultation and all it entails will take place on Queens Square at 11am. Copies of the petition will also be available for people to sign throughout the morning.

A series of meetings are also to take place across North Wales where members of the public can hear a presentation about the issues and then discuss these with senior clinical and management staff.

An event will be held locally at the Wrexham Memorial Hall on Friday 11th September.

Speaking about the current consultation, a spokesperson for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: “There are four options being consulted upon from Monday 24 August. Details of these were presented to the Board at the public meeting on 18 August.

“The quality and safety of our maternity services is a hugely important issue for the people of North Wales and we would like to assure you that our overriding concern is the safety of mothers and babies.

“We’re aware that this will be a difficult discussion and we hope that people will get involved to tell us their views and help shape the way forward.”

You can find more information on the webpages at www.wales.nhs.uk/nwmaternity or phone 0800 169 3142, Alternatively you can email [email protected].