Flintshire council backs healthcare emergency motion and calls for health board chief to face councillors
Flintshire County Council has backed a motion declaring a ‘healthcare emergency’ in North Wales.
The authority will invite the chair and chief executive of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to present a recovery plan for the region after unanimously supporting the notice of motion by True Independents leader Cllr Carol Ellis.
Across the chamber there was unanimous support for those working within the NHS to deliver health services – but an acknowledgement that there were significant problems with waiting times, ambulance transfers and access to services including GP and dental appointments and mental healthcare that continued to impact residents.
“This council notes with deep concern the ongoing pressures facing healthcare services across North Wales,” said Cllr Ellis. There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t hear from residents about situations that are unacceptable in North Wales, including record waits for patients accessing services at both general hospitals serving Flintshire residents (Wrexham Maelor and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd).
“Betsi Cadwalader University Health Board continues to be in special measures. Residents are subjected to corridor care which now seems to be normal practice, yet robs patients of dignity and basic care.
“There are difficulties obtaining GP appointments, lack of NHS dental services, delays in ambulance handover resulting in daily queues at both general hospitals serving Flintshire.
“Residents are unable to get an ambulance in emergency situations and this is having a wider impact on residents’ health and wellbeing.
“There’s insufficient mental healthcare, insufficient community beds and inadequate parking facilities at both general hospitals that serve Flintshire residents. Whilst we appreciate the hard work of staff, the current the situation needs urgent action. Prolonged delays in diagnosis treatments are having serious consequences for individuals, families, and communities.
“This council believes that the current situation constitutes a healthcare emergency and urgent action at both regional and national levels is urgently required.”
Cllr Ellis proposed the council declare the current pressures on healthcare in North Wales a healthcare emergency, write to Welsh Government and the leadership of BCUHB expressing serious concerns regarding access to safe healthcare for Flintshire residents, call for urgent measures to reduce waiting times, improve access to GP services, abolish corridor care and ensure safe and timely ambulance and hospital care and work with other health authorities to advocate for improved healthcare provision for our residents.
Liberal Democrat Cllr David Coggins Cogan added recommendations which were accepted by Cllr Ellis. They called for BCUHB to expand its services – including dental and community-based primary care – and request the chair and chief executive of BCUHB face the council within three months to outline their recovery plan.
A further recommendation – that Flintshire Council leader Cllr Dave Hughes write to the Welsh Government Cabinet Member for Health and Care Mabon ap Gwynfor MS seeking immediate action and a clear recovery plan for North Wales healthcare services – had already been actioned according to Cllr Hughes.
Buckley Pentrobin Cllr Mike Peers seconded the motion.
“The last 12 months, I have accompanied relatives into both the Countess of Chester and Wrexham Maelor,” he said. “In the Accident and Emergency department 15-hour waits are not unheard of.
“We’ve had stories in Buckley of people falling and waiting on the road for four hours. There’s actually an ambulance station in Buckley – that is unreasonable and it’s undignified.”
Cllr Ian Roberts highlighted the issues at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.
“I waited for 50 hours in the A and E department in Glan Clwyd, having gone for a heart procedure,” he said. “When I finally got into critical cardiology, the treatment and the staff there were absolutely fantastic.
“My son was admitted and discharged from Ysbyty Glan Clwyd on 15 occasions last year. Every time he had to go through his penance in A and E, sometimes waiting up to 60 hours.
“We are told by the health board this is because of lack of discharge beds. If that is the case why did they close all the community hospitals? A lot of this is down to the management of resources.
Councillors were careful to separate criticism of the health board’s management from frontline NHS staff – who were unanimously praised for their exceptional care.
Cllr Bill Crease said following a number of serious health concerns in recent years he had received excellent care from staff at both Wrexham Maelor and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.
“Following a cancer diagnosis I had immense support from nursing staff at the Maelor, Glan Clwyd and my doctor’s surgery and district nurses,” he said. “I have a named support nurse and a named advanced nurse practitioner and four weeks ago had a minor procedure which has radically changed my life.
“Last November I was admitted as an emergency to the Maelor with a heart attack. I was in hospital for four days. Four days later I was admitted under blues and twos with a collapsed lung, advanced pneumonia and a serious infection inside my chest cavity.
“I saw patients on trolleys being treated. I waited in my ambulance for 12 hours before I was given a bed. Whilst there I was treated by a respiratory consultant, an advanced nurse practitioner and two paramedics and was cared for at a level that I just find absolutely unbelievable.
“We need to challenge and rectify the faults, but please do not lose sight of the fact that the vast majority of the 21,000 BCUHB employees in North Wales are delivering a quality of care, compassion and kindness which has to be applauded.”
That sentiment was echoed by Cllr Linda Thomas.
“My treatment with Wrexham Maelor has been second to none over the last 15 months, and continues,” she said. “I couldn’t thank them enough.
“My ongoing treatment involves an awful lot of drugs, which if I didn’t live in a country where I don’t have to pay for all them, somewhere like the USA, I’m afraid my outlook would be very, very dim.”
The motion was unanimously approved by councillors.
By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter
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