Stay of Execution for Two Hospitals

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has stepped into a long-running row about the future of two hospitals and given them a stay of execution.

The future of Fairwood Hospital and ward one at Hill House Hospital, in Swansea, will now be subject to a review by Health Minister Edwina Hart.

Mr Morgan yesterday said that the fate of the two community hospitals falls into the same category as district general hospitals across West Wales and therefore should be subject of the moratorium about reconfiguration plans in Wales.

The decision comes just weeks after Mrs Hart announced that Wales should work to retain two neurosurgery units in South Wales – saving the unit at Morriston Hospital from closure.

Fairwood and Hill House hospitals have never been part of the controversial Designed to Deliver plans to alter services provided by larger hospitals, some of which faced the threat of downgrading or even closure, in the West Wales region.

Instead the original plan to close them dates back at least two years when it was proposed by Swansea NHS Trust and Swansea Local Health Board as part of a cost-saving exercise.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said, “The First Minister has now reached a decision in respect of the proposals from Swansea Local Health Board to close Fairwood Hospital and ward one Hill House Hospital, which had been contested by Swansea Community Health Council.

“The First Minister has concluded that the scope of the proposals is encompassed within the Moratorium he announced in Plenary session of the Assembly on June 6.

“The closure proposals will not therefore be taken forward until the Minister for Health and Social Services [Mrs Hart] has completed her detailed review.

“It would be inappropriate to pre-empt the outcome of that process at this stage.”

The original closure plans anticipated that intermediate care for the elderly would be provided in the community rather than the hospitals.

But the plans sparked anger in the city, not least because community-based intermediate care services are still in their infancy.

Dr Dai Lloyd, a Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales West and a Swansea GP, said, “At the end of the day we need hospital beds in Swansea – there is already a beds crisis and it’s not even winter.

“People want to see the evidence that social services can provide the packages of care in people’s home before the closure of these hospitals.”

Sandra Owen, chief officer for Swansea CHC, said, “We would have welcomed a definitive decision, but if, on the other hand, it means that services at Fairwood and Hill House are going to be looked at again, we will welcome any review.

“This issue has been going on for two years and hopefully this review will be completed sooner rather than later not only for patients and the staff but for the LHB and trust.”

A spokeswoman for Swansea NHS Trust said, “The trust acknowledges the decision by the First Minister to include Fairwood and Hill House in the moratorium.

“We will now need to consult with Swansea Local Health Board on the implications for future plans.”

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