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Powys County Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Powys County Times
Letter: Powys patients are being rationed healthcare
The decision by Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) to deliberately delay treatment for its own patients – purely to align with Wales' already appalling waiting times - is a shameful dereliction of duty. One might expect a health board to fight tooth and nail for faster care and better outcomes. Instead, PTHB has chosen to drag its standards down, inflicting needless pain and distress on its residents in the name of 'fairness'. Let's call this what it is: a bureaucratic betrayal. Patients who once had hope of timely treatment in neighbouring English hospitals are now being punished for living on the wrong side of a political border. No warning letters. No consultation. Just silence and suffering. This is healthcare rationing by stealth - and those paying the price are elderly residents, working families, and anyone unfortunate enough to fall ill in Powys. That the Welsh Government has allowed this policy to stand speaks volumes. For years now, Welsh Labour has presided over a crumbling NHS, where two-year waits for treatment have become normalised. It is a disgrace that such delays are not only tolerated but actively extended to more people in the name of 'equity'. The First Minister and her Cabinet have overseen a service in steady decline - and now, in Powys, that decline has taken a bitter new turn. Let us not pretend this is just a local hiccup. It is the inevitable outcome of years of poor planning, underfunding, and warped priorities under a devolved administration that seems utterly detached from reality. If ever proof were needed that devolution has failed Wales, this is it. It has delivered neither competence nor accountability – only mediocrity, delay, and frustration.
Powys County Times
04-08-2025
- Health
- Powys County Times
Powys health board may be charged for waiting time policy
Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) is facing further resistance from English health trusts over its policy of intentionally increasing wait times. The Wye Valley NHS Trust has confirmed that it may look to charge PTHB for the added costs of the controversial policy that was approved in March. This could potentially damage the benefits of the policy for PTHB which made the move to save around £16 million a year as it faces large budget deficits. The news comes after the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals (SaTH) Trust SaTH, confirmed it has so far not implemented the changes which would see waiting times for certain procedures double for Powys patients being treated in English Hospitals. The Wye Valley Trust told the County Times the policy could have knock-on effects to its emergency departments and has labelled the policy as 'poor value for money'. A spokesperson for the Wye Valley Trust said: 'We continue to work with the Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) and have outlined to PTHB the financial, operational and quality impacts of their intention to increase waiting times for routine elective patients. 'We have started to reduce activity for people who live in Wales with a Welsh GP practice who require an inpatient admission, as a direct result of the changes being implemented by Powys Teaching Health Board. 'We are concerned that patients who are having to wait longer to be seen due to this could increase attendances at our emergency department and within local primary care. 'Whilst recognising that PTHB need to manage within their budget, the administrative costs of enacting the policy, the increased costs of higher emergency activity, and the increased costs of catching up on this work in the future, make this plan, in our view, poor value for money. 'Patients are advised to please attend their appointment as normal. For patients currently on a waiting list, you will be contacted when your appointment is due.' Help support trusted local news Sign up for a digital subscription now: As a digital subscriber you will get Unlimited access to the County Times website Advert-light access Reader rewards Full access to our app MP For Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, David Chadwick has previously spoken in Parliament calling for the policy to be scrapped and labelled it 'a disaster from start to end'. "It is extremely concerning that accounts from the Wye Valley Trust seem to indicate that Powys has provided no detailed modelling on the impacts of these changes to hospitals in Herefordshire, alongside the concerns they have raised about the knock-on impact on emergency care,' said Mr Chadwick. "Given the Wye Valley Trust has also indicated it will be seeking to charge Powys for the administrative challenges and costs of implementing this new system, it isn't clear it would even be achieving its goal of cutting its budget deficit.
Powys County Times
02-08-2025
- Health
- Powys County Times
Powys health chiefs to keep eye on West Wales NHS shake-up
Powys health chiefs are keeping a close eye on the results of a consultation being held on the future of NHS services in West Wales. At a meeting of Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) on Wednesday, July 30, members asked when would the outcome of Hywel Dda University Health Board's consultation be made public. The consultation on its Clinical Services Plan runs until the end of August. Independent member and Powys County Councillor Chris Walsh (Labour) asked if the potential changes proposed by Hywel Dda would 'influence any scenarios' that PTHB is considering in its own 'Better Together' transformation programme. PTHB chief executive Hayley Thomas said: 'There will be a process that Hywel Dda need to undertake to take on board all of the insight they have gained through the engagement and consultation processes that they have had. This would be brought to the PTHB board for consideration. Ms Thomas said: 'That will probably take them a couple of months to do after the closure of the consultation. 'Currently the time scale for reporting on the plan that Hywel Dda have set, is its November board (meeting) that will be subject to the volume and scale of responses that they need to analyse. 'Understanding the changes to neighbouring health board plans and what does that mean in terms of pathways of care for our population in Powys is something we have to manage.' She told members that regular 'strategic change report' will be brought in front of the board's planning committee to evaluate all of the proposed changes to health services around the county's borders. Ms Thomas said: 'These are options at the moment. We are not able to build a preferred option into our thinking and how we would need to adapt our service model in Powys.' Hywel Dda is consulting on proposed changes across nine service areas which are: critical care, dermatology, emergency general surgery, endoscopy, ophthalmology, elective orthopaedics, radiology, stroke, and urology. The issue has already been discussed by Powys County Council. At a meeting in March, councillors voted to support a motion to protect health services at the only district general hospital serving Mid Wales. Councillors fear that Hywel Dda will downgrade the stroke unit at Bronglais hospital in Aberystwyth to a 'treat and transfer' unit. This would mean that some patient rehabilitation for residents in the west of Powys could take place at other hospitals, potentially hours away in Llanelli or Haverfordwest.
Business News Wales
01-08-2025
- Health
- Business News Wales
Digital Health Visitor Tool Rolled Out At Health Board
The University of South Wales (USW) is celebrating a major milestone in health innovation as eFRAIT, the electronic version of the Family Resilience Assessment Instrument and Tool (FRAIT), is rolled out at Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB), the first in Wales to adopt the digital platform in practice. Developed by USW researchers, FRAIT is a robust, evidence-based tool that helps health visitors assess and support family resilience, a crucial factor in child health and development. It facilitates conversations around resilience and its protective factors. FRAIT has been incorporated into the 'Welsh Government's Healthy Child Wales Programme' since 2016 and was made mandatory in 2017. Today, it is used by over 1,000 health visitors across Wales, reaching more than 1.8 million family contacts to date. 'In the UK, health visitors are nurses or midwives that undertake an additional year of training. They work with families on disease and illness prevention and health promotion, Dr Michelle Thomas, Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing and Health Visiting, explained. 'They meet with families at mandatory points in time, from birth to school age, which are linked to children's key development stages. 'FRAIT offers them standardised and practical method for identifying families that may benefit from early intervention. Its creation addressed a major gap in evidence-based health visitor assessments.' eFRAIT streamlines the assessment process, embedding it within digital systems. Previously, assessments were completed on paper, then scanned and uploaded into electronic systems, a disjointed and time-consuming process. 'Health visitors are really looking forward to using eFRAIT,' said Dr Thomas. 'It creates a seamless digital record and enhances how we track and respond to family needs.' The platform has been developed by Dr Mabrouka Abuhmida, Senior Lecturer in Computing and Mathematical Sciences, who worked closely with USW's FRAIT team to ensure the digital version replicates the original paper tool while meeting NHS standards for compatibility and data governance. 'This has been a fantastic example of cross-disciplinary and cross-sector collaboration,' said Dr Thomas. 'It's not always easy to bridge the gap between university research and NHS systems, but our colleagues at USW and PTHB have been incredible partners.' Health Visiting Team Leader at PTHB, Rebecca Rees said: 'When USW approached us to pilot eFRAIT, we saw it as an exciting opportunity to be part of this innovative journey and become the first Health Board in Wales to trial it. 'eFRAIT reduces paperwork by automatically calculating scores and uploading directly to the child's health record. This not only saves time but also cuts down on printing and confidential waste disposal.' Meanwhile, a self-assessment version of FRAIT is also in pilot phase. Designed for parents to complete themselves, it helps them to reflect on their strengths and needs and can guide health visitors to offer tailored support or signpost to relevant services. Ultimately, the team envisions FRAIT as a global model, adaptable across continents, but rooted in the realities of local culture and care. 'FRAIT is about much more than forms and data,' said Dr Thomas. 'It's about strengthening families, supporting practitioners, and improving the health and wellbeing of children from the very start. Going digital is just the next step in making that vision more accessible and effective.'
Powys County Times
31-07-2025
- Health
- Powys County Times
Powys Patients 'treated as a second-class citizens' says MS
Patients have been 'treated as a second-class citizens' in A&E and face two-year operation waits says a Powys MS. Brecon and Radnorshire MS, James Evans, slammed Powys Teaching Health Board's (PTHB) decision to continue with reduced opening hours for Minor Injury Units (MIUs) in Brecon and Llandrindod Wells. 'I fail to see how the Health Board's evaluation found 'positive impacts',' said Mr Evans. 'I hear of people having to travel out of county, considerable distances to access A&E departments, waiting hours and hours, only to be then treated as a second-class citizen because they are 'out of area'. 'The so-called improvements in service reliability and patient safety quoted by PTHB has only improved because the MIUs are closed. 'And any cost saving as a result will be nullified by the cost of other Health Boards treating Powys patients in their A&E departments.' The decision to extend the 'temporary changes' to the units was made in a meeting of Powys Teaching Health Board earlier today. It was heard that the decision had reduced staffing issues at the unit and reduction in the reliance on agency staff. Chief Executive of Powys Teaching Health Board, Hayley Thomas confirmed that further 'unpalatable' decisions were being considered in other area as the board tries to reduce its budget deficit. This financial pressure has also seen the board vote in March to intentionally increase wait times for Powys patients being treated in England. 'The decision made a few months ago, to delay Powys patients' treatment in English hospital settings is already starting to cause serious suffering and harm to patients,' added Mr Evans. 'I am hearing from constituents who, prior to this disastrous policy decision, were expecting to have operations in August, but instead they are now receiving letters telling them they will now likely wait two years for the operation. 'This is two years in pain waiting for a knee or hip operation, not being able to work, seeing their mobility reduced. All because of the Health Board's finances, not because of capacity issues or lack of nurses. 'Having no major hospital of our own in Powys, we cannot afford to lose any of our healthcare services here in Powys and I urge the Health Board to look again at our MIUs and expand the services they can offer.' Help support trusted local news Sign up for a digital subscription now: As a digital subscriber you will get Unlimited access to the County Times website Advert-light access Reader rewards Full access to our app Executive Medical Director at Powys Teaching health Board, Kate Wright said the recent changes had 'improved outcomes' She said: 'Our priority is always to provide care that is safe, effective, and compassionate. 'The evaluation shows that these changes have helped improve patient outcomes and reduce delays in care. 'We will continue to monitor the impact closely, learning from the experience of patients and staff.'
