Wales NHS News

The Welsh Conservatives say they've discovered that a Labour campaign name to fight controversial changes to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital was registered online four days before the announcement was made.

They've found an online record of the domain name 'LABOUR4ROYALGLAM' being registered on the 19th May. A public consultation on proposals for A and E services in South Wales was announced on 22nd May. They say the campaign's Facebook and Twitter pages have also been changed to 'Campaign4RoyalGlam'

Opposition leader Andrew RT Davies has accused Labour politicians involved in the campaign of 'hypocrisy' and says the online discoveries raise 'serious questions' about both the consultation and Labour's campaigning role.

This sorry affair raises questions that need to be answered. How did they know that the Royal Glamorgan was included in the proposals some four days before the announcement? How can the public have confidence in the legitimacy of a consultation process that seems to give Labour politicians the inside track? And, finally, why have all traces of the original website, Twitter and Facebook pages now disappeared?”

• Politics
• Royal Glamorgan Hospital
• Welsh Conservatives

Fifteen thousand cancer patients in Wales will be getting the chance to rate their treatment. It's the first national survey of its kind in Wales. From next month patients will be contacted to give feedback on all aspects of their care - from diagnosis to home support.

• Health
• NHS
• Welsh Government

Patients in Wales who've received treatment for cancer in the last year will be contacted and asked to rate their experiences of NHS services in an effort to raise standards. The Cancer Experience Survey will be sent through the post in June.

• Health
• NHS
• Welsh Government

Macmillan Cancer Support says the Cancer Experience Survey is an important initiative in helping make sure patients' needs are met.

It is the first time such a comprehensive survey of cancer patients' experiences of care has been conducted in Wales.

It is vitally important to measure survival rates and cancer waiting times targets, but it is equally important to find out what patients really think about the quality of the care they receive.

Local Health Boards must take the survey's results into consideration to inform planning for future cancer services to make sure these services meet people's clinical and non-clinical needs, and that they are truly person-centred.

• Health
• NHS
• Welsh Government

The Welsh Government says a survey asking patients to provide feedback on cancer services might be distressing for some, but their feedback could lead to 'real improvement'.

The Cancer Experience Survey is due to be sent to through the post to a sample of patients in the next month.

The best people to ask about how cancer services are being delivered in Wales are the patients themselves. There is a great deal to learn from what they have to say.

When a patient hears a doctor deliver a diagnosis of cancer, it is a life-changing moment. How the doctor delivers that diagnosis and the support the individual receives, not just for their medical care, can impact on the outcome for the individual.

I would encourage all those who receive a survey to take the time to complete it. The information you provide can help improve services in the future.

• Health
• NHS
• Welsh Government

Fifteen thousand cancer patients in Wales are to be given the chance to say what they think of the treatment they have received.

The Cancer Experience Survey will cover all aspects of care, from diagnosis to home support, and the feedback used to try to improve services.

A selection of patients who have been diagnosed with cancer and had a stay in hospital between June last year and March 2013 will be sent the questions in the post in the next month.

The Welsh Government and Macmillan Cancer Support have worked together to develop the survey, which will be the first of its kind for cancer patients in all parts of Wales.

• Health
• NHS
• Welsh Government

Responding to the news that Labour politicians including one Welsh Government minister have set up a campaign to protect accident and emergency services at Royal Glamorgan hospital in Llantrisant, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said:

The campaign to ensure safe NHS services as close to people’s homes as possible should be broad-based. A proper community campaign which can unite all of us who have concerns about the loss of services from the Royal Glamorgan Hospital and further centralisation would be the best way ahead.

A Labour minister, with a direct voice in the government that is making these changes is in a good position to halt these proposals now. If the plans are not halted, then I would imagine that big questions as to whether this is political posturing are bound to be asked. Plaid Cymru will work with anyone who is interested in fighting to save local services at hospitals like the Royal Glamorgan. We very much hope that the fight will be a successful one – failure is not an option when lives could be put at risk

• Health
• Labour
• Plaid Cymru

Labour has spectacularly failed our NHS over the past decade and this whole reorganisation process is down to their incompetence.

If the South Wales plans follow the same pattern as what we’ve seen in North and Mid Wales, I have real concerns that patients will not be able to be treated in the right place, at the right time, staffed with the appropriate levels of skills.

• Health
• Kirsty Williams
• Royal Glamorgan Hospital

Plaid Cymru's leader Leanne Wood's response to proposals for the future of hospital services in South Wales:

Today’s news is an admission of the Welsh Government’s failure to deliver these services. Labour has been in charge of health in Wales for the last 14 years; ever since the advent of devolution.

**The Party of Wales has spent a decade warning about these service reductions and we have proposed numerous positive alternative solutions. We must make Wales an attractive place for doctors to live and work.

And commenting specifically on proposals affecting the Royal Glamorgan hospital in Llantrisant, she said:

The people of Rhondda Cynon Taf will be very concerned to discover that critical services could be taken from the Royal Glamorgan hospital in Llantrisant, including from its A&E department, which is the preferred option of hospital chiefs.

RCT is an area where many of the residents have chronic health problems, the road network is poor and the local ambulance service has the worst performance in Wales for responding to life-threatening emergency calls.

• Health
• Royal Glamorgan Hospital
• NHS