Further reassurances over Gorseinon Hospital after meeting with councillors

We have been able to give fresh reassurances over the future of Gorseinon Hospital during a meeting with local councillors.

The meeting, attended by our Chair Jan Williams and Chief Executive Abi Harris, included an update on the metal security plates which were put in place to protect the building and which we hope to remove soon.

It followed concerns raised since the health board transferred inpatient beds from Gorseinon West Ward to Singleton for patient safety reasons in October last year.

They were due to remain in Singleton until 31^st March, but the board later agreed to extend it to September 30th.

This was because, while we have made considerable progress resolving the safety issues, we could not have safely returned patients by the end of March.

Throughout this process, we have made it clear that Gorseinon Hospital, a base for numerous community services, remains open, and we have no plans to close it.

Residents and councillors were concerned when the security plates appeared on the West Ward windows. We explained last month that this was to protect the hospital from vandals, thieves, and urban explorers.

Jan and Abi have now given councillors personal assurances at the meeting in Gorseinon Hospital, during which the security plates and the short-term plans for the hospital were discussed.

Afterwards, Jan and Abi said: “We have a number of services delivered from the hospital which are looking for additional space to ensure they can see as many patients as possible. This includes the pacemaker and heart failure clinics.

“We are supporting those services to make use of the space freed up in the ward area on a temporary basis.

“We are looking to install security cameras to make the hospital safer. We recently experienced a break-in at a disused bungalow at the back of the hospital, during which some copper piping was taken.

“The incident was reported to South Wales Police, and we would like to thank them for their rapid response. An individual was subsequently arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

“Our plan is to remove the plates as soon as possible, once we have secured the inside window latches and installed the security cameras.

“During the visit we also discussed whether we could improve the refreshment offer to patients and visitors, and whether volunteers could help with this.

“We support the continued development of Gorseinon Hospital as a vibrant community health facility providing services to the local community as well as services that serve the whole of Swansea Bay.”

Gorseinon Hospital’s future role will be considered as part of our wider clinical services plan, Transforming for the Future.

This looks at how all our clinical services can best be delivered in ways that offer high quality, safe and sustainable care.

In the months ahead we will speak to staff, stakeholders and the public. There will be a series of listening events, starting in Gorseinon, to ensure the views of the local population are fed into that process from the outset.

Gorseinon Hospital is a base for several community teams and services. They are unaffected by the temporary transfer of beds to Singleton and continue to operate as normal:

• Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy

• Respiratory, cardiology and medicine, including the Heart Failure Clinic for patients across Swansea Bay

• A range of support services

• Community bladder and bowel health (catheter, stoma care etc)

• Home First Nursing team - supporting patients to return home

• Occupational therapy – supporting patients in the community

• Health visiting – the base for the health visiting team

• Parkinson’s Nurses – the base for this team too

• Speech and language therapy - supporting the acute clinical team

• Phlebotomy – blood collection for GPs and other patient referrals

• District nursing – a base for a District Nursing Team

• School nursing – a base for the School Nursing Team.