The Member of the Senedd (MS) for Arfon has called on the Health Minister to intervene directly and undertake a ministerial inquiry into vascular services in North Wales.

 

The calls were made months after Siân Gwenllian called on the health board to apologise for the ‘mess’ caused by the decision to reorganise the vascular services in North Wales in October.

Previous to that in May, the MS called on the newly appointed Welsh Government Health Minister Eluned Morgan MS to restore full vascular services at Ysbyty Gwynedd. Local campaigner and secretary of Ysbyty Gwynedd’s Kidney Patients Association, Ken Jones backed Siân Gwenllian’s call.

But the MS has made fresh calls in the Senedd today in an exchange with Minister for North Wales, Lesley Griffiths MS.

Siân Gwenllian said: “There is increasing evidence that reconfiguration of the vascular services has led to a significant deterioration in provision for people in north Wales.

“It would have made sense to locate the new hub in Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor—that’s what sensible reorganisation would have been, namely building on the excellent-quality unit that was there.

“As you said, there is another review in the pipeline, but this is being undertaken by the same body that has recommended the erroneous reorganisation model in the first place, so that doesn’t inspire much confidence.

“Now, will you, as a Minister who represents north Wales, ask the health Minister to intervene directly in the situation and undertake a ministerial inquiry that will bring clear recommendations before us in order to ease the increasing concerns of my constituents in Arfon?”

Lesley Griffiths responded saying that she was “aware of ongoing concerns” and was ” awaiting part two of the Royal College of Surgeons’ review”:

“I understand it’s been recently received in a draft form by the health board, and we are expecting it to be published imminently. I think it’s good to wait for that review.

“I think the Minister for Health and Social Services has made it very clear she expects improvements to be made and for this service, really, to live up to expectations, that it will be a flagship service within Wales.

“So, I think it would be good to await the report—I know the Minister is obviously monitoring the situation very closely.”