National Health Service

[SAJ]

Hugo, thanks for the interesting information and insight into life in and around Cwm Place. Sam sounds like quite a resourceful character. It?s good that his efforts on behalf of the hospital have been recognised with the plaque.

[Hugo]

Sam was indeed a resourceful character and he and Fred appeared on TV,      Bill Grundy who had a programme called People and Places interviewed the pair about the Save the Hospital Campaign, really good publicity for the cause.
Life in Cwm Place was a good place to grow up and Sam's wife Nellie was a good organiser too.   Nellie and Mrs Rawling used to arrange coach holidays for the families in and around Cwm Place and they even collected weekly payments from the families because in those days people didn't have the money to pay in full

[SteveH]

A SHAKE-UP of the Air Ambulance could see it reach hundreds more patients thanks to analysis

The Wales Air Ambulance Charity is currently working on a world-leading, in-depth analysis which is revealing that it could attend over 500 more lifesaving missions across Wales every year.

The analysis is one of the most comprehensive conducted by any air ambulance in the world and is looking at the most efficient use of the Service?s existing resources.

The results are showing that with a reconfiguration of base locations and medical shift patterns, Wales Air Ambulance could attend up to 583 additional missions every year.

This would see the Welshpool base in mid Wales close, and the base in Caernarfon possibly moved to another location in North Wales.

At present, Wales Air Ambulance meets 72% of the total demand for its service. That could rise to 88%.

Read more https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/20668300.major-shake-up-air-ambulance-can-reach-hundreds-patients-wales/

[SteveH]

Two NHS stories this morning................I don't think any of us blame the medical staff for the mess, but it's good to be reminded, and a warning about the effect of the cost of living crisis on the already stretched NHS


This damning report is not the fault of A&E staff... they are at breaking point' says retired nurse

A retired nurse has penned an emotional letter sharing her thoughts after healthcare inspectors said they had 'serious concerns' about Ysbyty Glan Clwyd's Emergency Department

A woman who worked as a ward sister at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd's Emergency Department for 34 years says a recent report on the department's failings left her "shaken to the core". During her 50-year career in the NHS, Mair Dowell became a passionate advocate for both her patients and colleagues.

When a report by Wales' Healthcare Inspectorate expressed "serious concerns" about the state of the Bodelwyddan ED, Mair felt strongly that people should know the reality of the situation from her perspective. Mair said she was heartbroken to read such a "damning report" about a place where she was once so proud to work.

Cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/this-damning-report-not-fault-24768526?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589


NHS bosses warn of sickness and illness outbreaks in UK unless action taken over soaring energy bills

The country is facing a 'humanitarian crisis' unless the Government does more to help people, the NHS Confederation says

NHS bosses have made an ?unprecedented? appeal to the Government to take action on rising energy prices as the UK faces a ?public health emergency?. The NHS Confederation sent a letter to ministers on Friday, warning that surging costs mean people will have to choose between skipping meals to heat their homes or living in cold and damp conditions this winter.

cont https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/nhs-bosses-warn-sickness-illness-24797248?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

Ambulance services are using taxis to take thousands of patients to hospital following calls initially categorised as urgent.

Freedom of Information Act figures indicate the practice is increasing as trusts struggle with pressures.

Patients ranged from a three-day-old baby in Yorkshire to a 103-year-old in Wales.

However, the NHS said only a tiny proportion of patients were taken to hospital in this way.

Trusts told the BBC cabs are used in such circumstances only when it was clinically safe to do so.

Across England, Scotland and Wales between April 2021 and the end of January 2022, there were more than 24,000 journeys where a taxi was sent following a 999 or 111 call.

This was more than 23% up on the previous year, based on figures supplied.

In Scotland and Wales, urgent calls are categorised differently, but those services provided equivalent figures.

cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62165808

[SteveH]

At last a bit of common sense, this is a good start in keeping the hospital alive.

New multi-million stroke unit to be based at Llandudno Hospital
It will be one of three set to open in North Wales the health board confirmed and will give patients the 'maximum opportunity to recover'

The unit will help with the rehabilitation of people who have suffered a stroke but no longer need acute care. The other unit at Ysbyty Eryri opened earlier this year, and a third is set to be announced.

Steven Grayston is the acting clinical director for therapy services at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and said: "We are delighted to be opening a Stroke Rehabilitation Centre in Llandudno Hospital. ?This is one of three centres we are opening in North Wales, with one in Ysbyty Eryri that opened earlier this year, and another in the East area that will open in early 2023.

Read more https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/new-multi-million-stroke-unit-24895039?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

THE MP and MS for Clwyd West have both welcomed the news that a new multi-million-pound stroke unit will be based at Llandudno Hospital.

This unit will help with the rehabilitation of those who have suffered a stroke but no longer need acute care.

David Jones, MP for Clwyd West, called the news ?a very positive development?, while Darren Millar, the constituency?s MS, labelled it a ?much-need facility?.

Mr Jones said: "This is very welcome news for North Wales stroke patients and their families.

"Rehabilitation is vital for people who have experienced a stroke.

?I have no doubt that my constituents who need this service will be delighted to hear of the establishment of the unit at Llandudno Hospital.

"After quite a long period of adverse news about health care locally, this is a very positive development."

Cont https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/20908234.clwyd-west-mp-ms-welcome-new-stroke-unit-llandudno-hospital/?ref=rss&IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

I could not agree more, well said Mr Cowell...........

A North Wales Live reader has claimed the NHS focusses too much on "system's business" such as hiring diversity and inclusion managers rather than on patients and their needs. Gareth Cowell claims Britain is suffering a "managerial disease" which has proliferated over the last 25 years as "management begets management and so on - ad infinitum!"

The Bangor resident cites the news of numerous NHS trusts hiring diversity and inclusion managers budgeting up to ?1 million, including one post at Liverpool University Hospital NHS Trust searching for a manager with a ?77k pay packet, as a symptom of the issues the UK is experiencing. Mr Cowell added: "No wonder everyone wants to be a manager...It's time for a cull of management and bureaucracy throughout Management Britain - and that includes the NHS."

Read more  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/time-cull-nhs-management-says-24941071

[SteveH]

An annual flu jab is a simple way of reducing the risk of stroke, according to a ?compelling? new study. Researchers said they have found ?yet another reason? for people to get their yearly flu shot after discovering participants were 12 per cent less likely to suffer a stroke if they'd had the jab.

Study author Dr Francisco de Abajo ,of University of Alcal? in Madrid, Spain, said: ?Studies have shown that getting the flu increases your risk of having a stroke, but research is still being collected on whether getting the flu vaccine can help protect against a stroke. This observational study suggests that those who have a flu shot have a lower risk of stroke.

"To determine whether this is due to a protective effect of the vaccine itself or to other factors, more research is needed.?

The team looked at ischemic strokes, the most common type of stroke, which is caused by a blockage of blood flow to the brain. They studied a Spanish healthcare database looking at 14,322 over-40s who had a stroke, and 71,610 people of the same age who did not have a stroke.

Of this group, the team looked at whether people had received the flu vaccine at least 14 days before the stroke. More than two in five (41.4 per cent) of those who had a stroke had had a flu shot in those 14 days, compared to 40.5 per cent who did not have the illness.

cont https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/stroke-research-breakthrough-annual-flu-24960863?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

THE BETSI Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHC) has confirmed that two GP surgeries in Colwyn Bay will be merged at the end of the year.

The Rhoslan and Rysseldene surgeries will continue to operate until December 5, when they will merge to form the new practice called West End Medical Centre.

In the meantime, the practices will be supported to do the work necessary to merge and to ensure that all patients benefit from being part of a single, larger practice.

https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/22644842.two-colwyn-bay-surgeries-merged-health-board/

[SteveH]

Patients in North Wales will have to 'accept new normal' when getting GP appointments
'Community pharmacies will also increasingly be a place to be seen if you have a minor ailment'

As the iconic Bob Dylan song says ?the times they are a-changing? and this rings especially true at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

Full article  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/people-north-wales-accept-new-25108309?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

MORE than 700,000 people in Wales are waiting for NHS treatment following a huge increase in the past year.

The number of people on an NHS waiting list in Wales has exploded by 100,000 people in just one year, recent figures show.

The latest Welsh NHS data for July showed the highest ever number of patients waiting for treatment with 743,229 on patient pathways ? up from 644,463 the same time in 2021 ? leaving well over a fifth of the Welsh people on the waiting list.

The number of people waiting over two years is now 60,557 ? up from 15,790 a year ago ? while the number is fewer than 3,000 in both England and Scotland.

cont https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/22835045.nhs-waiting-list-huge-increase-past-year/

[SteveH]

Two important stories today............

The Welsh Ambulance Service is doing all it can to play its part in reducing handover times to emergency departments, to under four hours.

Good progress had been made under its new immediate release directions policy.

This policy is to deal with ?red? (immediately life-threating) or ?amber one? (serious but non-immediately life-threatening) call-outs, were there is no ambulance available to immediately respond to that patient locally because the fleet is delayed at an emergency department handover.

What that situation happens, the service makes a request to that emergency department for the vehicle to be released immediately and the trust is monitoring compliance with those directions.

cont  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/22952831.welsh-ambulance-service-aiming-reduce-handover-times/


Record numbers of nurses are quitting the NHS in England, figures show.    I am assuming Wales is the same, if not worse ?

More than 40,000 have walked away from the NHS in the past year - one in nine of the workforce, an analysis by the Nuffield Trust think tank for the BBC revealed.

It said many of these were often highly skilled and knowledgeable nurses with years more of work left to give.

And the high number of leavers is nearly cancelling out the rise in new joiners that has been seen.

There were just 4,000 more joiners than leavers in the year to the end of June.

But a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said progress was being made and the government was already halfway to meeting its target to increase the numbers of nurses working in the NHS in England during this Parliament by 50,000.

cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-63080462

[Ian]

Is this a surprise? The government has, over the part 12 years, persistently underfunded the NHS while heaping more and more 'targets' on the organisation. People are realising that there are far, far more rewarding, lucrative and infinitely less stressful ways of  earning a living.

[SteveH]

Councillors hope a development of over 100 new homes at Glan Clwyd could attract doctors and nurses to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd. Today Denbighshire?s planning committee voted in favour of granting permission for 108 homes on land opposite Glan Clwyd hospital on Rhuddlan Road.

The application was submitted by Mr. D Wilkinson of Pure Residential and Commercial Ltd who sought full planning permission for the homes and construction of new vehicular access and associated works. Cllr Andrea Tomlin said she hoped the application would attract staff needed at the nearby hospital.

"Having read the full report, I see no reason for this not to go through, but I do see an added reason for this to go through in view of the massive shortage of doctors and nurses at the hospital and key workers and our problems enticing them to come and work at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd,? she said. ?I think this development will help towards that cause."

cont  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/100-homes-north-wales-village-25187353