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Could This Be the End of Singleton Hospital?

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 October 2005, 06:00 CDT

By MADELEINE BRINDLEY Western Mail

One of Wales' largest hospitals could be shut within the next decade because Swansea is not big enough to house two hospitals. In a document that could spell the beginning of the end for Singleton Hospital, Swansea NHS Trust officials said a single super hospital was the preferred option for the future.

In the meantime, emergency services could be moved from Singleton to Morriston Hospital, as the former becomes a centre for planned and routine treatment and surgery.

But Swansea GP and South Wales West AM Dr Dai Lloyd said the trust should be diverting all money to the patient frontline to develop services and reduce its long waiting times, rather than expending time and energy on 'fanciful' plans.

Swansea NHS Trust's tentative proposals for the long and medium- term future come as the trust is grappling with a multi-million- pound debt, long waiting lists and the threat of losing another of its speciality services.

Paediatric neurosurgery has already been relocated away from Swansea and a review of the burns service has raised the prospect of the city also losing that speciality.

The trust has also been criticised for its passive acceptance of the relocation of such services.

Dr Lloyd, a Plaid Cymru AM, said, 'At the moment, despite all the difficulties, we have an excellent service at both Singleton and Morriston and we want to see development of these services at these two sites.

'Having one super hospital has superficial appeal but, frankly, we need to be developing Swansea as a regional centre of excellence - to make it into another Cardiff instead of always being under threat of losing services to Bristol.'

The proposals for the future of Singleton and Morriston hospitals are outlined in the October trust board papers, which are due to be discussed tomorrow.

The report said, 'Anyone looking at Swansea from the outside would feel that a city of less than 250,000 population would find it difficult to merit two large acute hospitals with key linkages not supported by having those two sites six miles and a minimum of 30 minutes travelling time apart.

'Increasingly, the concentration of specialist skills, the need for multi-disciplinary team working and the avoidance of duplicated facilities, whether diagnostic or supporting, make the idea of a single site acute hospital for Swansea a preferred outcome.'

The Welsh Assembly Government's 10-year plan for the NHS in Wales, Designed For Life, has prompted Swansea NHS Trust to look at where and how health services will be provided.

It has envisaged a separation of elective and emergency care which could help to ease pressure on waiting lists and prevent patients having to wait years for simple operations.: How care would be shared in the meantime:In the medium-term health officials are considering turning Singleton Hospital into an elective centre. This would include: The transfer of all surgical emergencies to Morriston Hospital The relocation of all GP; admissions at Singleton Hospital; The transfer of all elderly care medicine, including setting up a dedicated stroke unit and day-hospital;

A nurse-led A&E service at Singleton Hospital at night which is linked to the out-of-hours service;

The development of short-stay elective surgery and day care, including the transfer of such activity from Morriston Hospital;

A primary care resource centre, including mental health facilities, to be built at Singleton Hospital;

The provision of an integrated Children's Assessment Unit;

The transfer of all complex surgery requiring critical care support and the transfer of all level-three intensive care to Morriston Hospital.

Source: Western Mail

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