Maternity services 'need change'

15 July 2011 Last updated at 12:35 GMT Maternity services at hospitals such as Glan Clwyd face a possible reorganisation Changes to maternity services at hospitals in north Wales are needed, according to a review.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board says it will draw up and consult on a range of options but no decisions had been taken.

There are fears maternity services may be cut at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Glan Clwyd, and Wrexham Maelor hospitals to provide midwife-led units.

The health board said services would remain as local as possible.

It said the first stage of its maternity and child health review had concluded the way services were planned and delivered had to change.

Unless they did, the number of specialist nurses, midwives and doctors would not meet national standards, it said.

It also said more needed to be done to help people to stop smoking, reduce obesity, improve mental health, reduce unwanted pregnancies and increase the number of children and babies being immunized.

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Where we can and it is safe to do so, services will be as local as possible”

End Quote Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Meetings with staff, patients and other interested parties to discuss changes will be held in the coming weeks.

It said no plans had been put to the project board and if there was any significant service change it would discuss public consultation it with the community health council.

"Patient safety is the health board's number one priority, improving the health of the population and making sure we live within our public resources are also important," it said.

"Where we can and it is safe to do so, services will be as local as possible."

The health board first announced its plans for a review last year.

It led Prestatyn GP Eamonn Jessup to warn cuts in services to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, would mean mothers would have to travel for emergency caesareans and some babies would die.

A online campaign to maintain acute services at the unit has attracted over 18,000 members.

Another group is calling for the retention of all maternity services at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

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PM urges reform of Welsh services

12 July 2011 Last updated at 15:16 GMT David Cameron urged the assembly to modernise public services, but left the chamber in silence

David Cameron has urged members of the Welsh assembly to modernise public services.

He said Wales's devolved administration should follow the UK government's attempt to end a "state monopoly" over public services.

The prime minister said "more open public services" could improve lives in Wales, as they would in England.

First Minister Carwyn Jones said the call was "not the wisest" part of Mr Cameron's speech to the assembly.

Speaking in the Senedd's chamber on Tuesday, Mr Cameron said the direct law-making powers won by the assembly in a referendum in March had given the institution "immense responsibility" to improve people's lives.

Bureaucracy

But Mr Cameron added that some public services in Wales were "too bureaucratic to deliver those improvements".

He said: "Let me be clear: it is not my intention to interfere in decisions over devolved matters.

"But it is my duty to give my opinion where I feel it could benefit the Welsh people."

The prime minister's appeal for reform is unlikely to be taken up by Welsh Labour which has declined to follow a number of public service policies pursued by the Westminster coalition and the previous UK Labour government.

"I believe now is the time to modernise our public services - and in England, that is what we're doing," he said.

Mr Cameron said the UK government was opening services to new providers, offering more choice over schools and hospitals, and making the system more transparent - reforms that would "revolutionise public services in England and improve lives", he said.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg met Carwyn Jones at the Senedd

"I also believe that more open public services could do the same in Wales," he added.

His speech provided few details about a commission into the way the Welsh Government is funded, promised as part of the coalition deal between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

He appealed to all political parties to seek consensus on the matter.

The Welsh Government wants the formula that sets its budget - currently about ?15bn - to be reformed, along with powers to borrow money and control over some taxes.

It is braced for a real-terms cut in its capital budget of 40% over the next four years.

'Lecture'

Asked about the passage of Mr Cameron's speech that dealt with public services, Mr Jones said: "I think that was not the wisest part of the speech. It would be the equivalent of me going and lecturing the UK cabinet on where they are going wrong.

"He and I will disagree on a number of things of course, that's democracy.

"I welcomed the element in his speech that talked about setting up a commission. It's important now that work is carried on at the Whitehall end to make sure that commission begins as soon as possible in the autumn."

Mr Jones hailed a "very good meeting" with Mr Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in Cardiff Bay earlier in the day.

The UK cabinet then met at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant where Mr Cameron denied the UK government was dragging its feet on any announcement about the commission.

Plaid Cymru said details of the UK government's commission were overdue.

Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said: "The Tory-Lib Dem coalition has been in government in Westminster for over a year but we still don't have any more clarity on this issue."

A Tory AM accused Labour and Plaid of giving Mr Cameron a frosty reception.

Janet Finch-Saunders said the "heckling" of some Plaid members and a lack of applause from the Labour benches was "immature" and "embarrassing".

"I was appalled at the rude behaviour by some assembly members during - and following - the prime minister's address," she said.

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