Two-month-old Daisy Bamford was
suffering from a viral infection, bronchitis, and hypothermia when her parents
took her to Withybush hospital a week before Christmas. She needed an operation
to assist with her breathing, but the hospital did not have an anaesthetist
available with sufficient paediatric experience. The decision was taken that
Daisy should go to Glangwili in Carmarthen.
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| Daisy as she is today (aged 5 months) with brothers Freddie (one-and-a-half) and Elijah (five) |
The problem was that a specialist
intubation ambulance was needed to make the journey. The nearest available one,
run by a private company, is based in Bristol. This ambulance serves the whole
of southwest Britain, from Oxfordshire and covers southern Wales and the southwest
of England. It took six hours for it to reach Daisy in Haverfordwest.
The ambulance contains the facilities
and specialist medical staff to undertake an emergency endotracheal
intubation operation if that becomes necessary – that’s the insertion of a tube
through the baby’s nose and into the windpipe to ensure a free flow of air.
It’s a procedure that requires a good deal of experience to undertake
effectively, especially on small children.
That became evident a week later. Daisy had recovered
sufficiently to return home to Fishguard but suffered a relapse. Her parents
rushed her to Withybush, to be met with the same situation. Again the required
medical staff were not available and again Daisy had to be taken to Glangwili.
But this time the specialist intubation ambulance took eight hours to arrive
from Bristol. The other difference was
that this time Daisy needed emergency treatment on the way between
Haverfordwest and Carmarthen.
All this was the result of the removal of 24-hour consultant-led
paediatric cover from Withybush in August 2014. At the same time the special
care baby unit and its consultants were taken away to Carmarthen. Outraged by
their experience Daisy’s parents, Myles Bamford-Lewis and Jasmine McGinley,
sprang into action. After Christmas they launched an on-line petition demanding
the return of 24-hour paediatric cover to Withybush. The petition took off. In
less than three months it received 20,557 signatures and these were presented
to AMs on the steps of the Senedd in Cardiff on Tuesday this week. They
undertook to give it to Health Minister Mark Drakeford.
Last week, I met with Steve Moore, Hywel
Dda Health Board’s chief executive, together with Myles Bamford-Lewis and Simon
Thomas, Plaid’s Mid and West Wales AM. Steve Moore wanted to hear Myle’s
experience first hand and described it as “unacceptable”. He said they were
doing all they could to restore 24-hour paediatric cover at Withybush. Its
removal had been a mistake, he said.
“You can’t have a strong Accident and Emergency system unless you have
24 hour paediatric cover,” was the way he put it. “The loss of paediatric
support in 2014 reduced the confidence of our Accident and Emergency staff and
gave us challenges in recruiting new staff.” And he pointed out that within a
week of losing 24-hour paediatric cover, Withybush also lost a number of
trainee doctors.
I put it to Steve Moore that the same
principle applied to provision of consultant-led maternity care at Withybush.
And I told him that Plaid Cymru’s policy, to be announced in our manifesto for
the National Assembly election, is for everyone in Wales to be within an hour’s
reach of a hospital-based Accident and Emergency centre (the “golden hour”) and
that would include on-site consultant obstetricians and gynacologists. It is
our view that if a mother in childbirth is suddenly found to require a
caesarian operation, then that is an emergency. Steve Moore heard what I said,
and made no commitment. But at least he’s listening.
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