Temporary move for brain surgery

Neurosurgery faces a UK-wide shortage of middle-grade doctors

Emergency neurosurgery at one of Wales' busiest hospitals is being transferred to Cardiff due to staffing problems.

Morriston Hospital in Swansea had said some complex neurosurgery was to be switched as it sought to pool resources with the University Hospital of Wales.

Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust said the new temporary agreement will begin a week on Monday (27 July).

The trust said a UK-wide neurosurgery staff shortage means from August it will have only a third of staff needed.

Trust bosses have said Morriston has only three middle-grade doctors instead of seven due to a recruitment shortage, and this will drop to two in August.

A lack of qualified staff has also caused problems at Swansea's Singleton Hospital, which is being forced to close two children's wards.

This needs to be a short-term solution and that we need to get the medium-grade doctors in place as quickly as possible

Peter Black, South West Wales AM

Morriston successfully battled plans to end adult neurosurgery services there two years ago.

Health Minister Edwina Hart has said she was committed to continuing neurosurgery services in Swansea through a networked service, although critics have argued the service would become unsustainable unless it was centralised on one site.

South West Wales Lib Dem AM Peter Black, who took part in the campaign to retain the service at Morriston, is still concerned the unit could close.

'Correct'

He told BBC Wales: "It's important in arguing that Swansea should retain neurosurgery, and particularly emergency neurosurgery, that one of the considerations for that was the travel time people would have to get to an operation from west Wales.

"If you are going to move all emergency operations to Cardiff that means the travel time from Pembrokeshire, from Aberystwyth, from Ceredigion, is going to be much further and much longer and it's going to put people's lives at risk.

"I'm not disputing that the circumstances mean that the decision is the correct one at this time.

"My concern is that this needs to be a short-term solution and that we need to get the medium-grade doctors in place as quickly as possible.

"Morriston itself is a major trauma centre and neurosurgery needs to be retained there to maintain the integrity of that trauma centre."

'Sense'

Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust (ABM) said a working group of senior surgeons had been set up to oversee the new arrangements and agree joint protocols.

ABM consultant neurosurgeon John Martin said: "Patient safety is our number one priority, and during this staffing crisis I am confident that working in close partnership with our Cardiff and Vale colleagues is the most appropriate way to ensure a safe service can be continued."

Cardiff and Vale consultant neurosurgeon Brian Simpson said: "It makes a great deal of sense for our two teams to pool our resources and ensure that patients will continue to be safely treated in south Wales.

"Like our Swansea colleagues, we are committed to doing all we can to make this arrangement work safely and effectively."