Posted: Fri 1st Nov 2019

Updated: Wed 26th Feb

Health board to be grilled at Holyhead public meeting

North Wales news and information
This article is old - Published: Friday, Nov 1st, 2019

Health board officials are set to be grilled at a public meeting to discuss a town’s GP crisis.
Two of Holyhead’s surgeries  have struggled to recruit and retain new full-time GPs, leading to the management of both practices being taken over by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board over recent months.
According to local politicians, this has led to patients reporting no doctors at the surgeries for days on end and generally experiencing issues in accessing primary care due to the shortage of GPs at the Longford House and Cambria  practices.
Holyhead Town Council has arranged for representatives from the health board to attend a public meeting on Monday at the town hall, promising that residents will be given the chance to ask direct questions.
The  latest gathering follows a successful public meeting last Friday, which was organised by the island’s AM.
Rhun ap Iorwerth said that the community spoke clearly and as one at the meeting, and that a plan now needs to be put in place by the health board to resolve the situation.

“What we had in Holyhead was a community speaking very, very clearly with one voice,” he said, adding that a plan now needs to be put in place by health chiefs to resolve the situation.

“A frustrated community, an angry community in so many ways, that primary care, the GP surgery system in this town has been allowed to reach a point where it just cannot meet the needs of the town.

“Now, having spoken with a clear voice, we can take that message to Betsi Cadwaladr and to Welsh Government and say we can’t wait any longer, we can’t afford to wait any longer, the vulnerable people of Holyhead can’t wait any longer.

“Let’s get a plan in place now to sort this out.”

Albert Owen MP, who also attended last week’s meeting, added that the current situation was “simply not acceptable” and that a solution must be found as soon as possible.

“I have already taken the issue up directly with the Chief Executive of the BCUHB and also Vaughan Gething AM, the Welsh Government Health Minister,” he said.

“I appreciate there are challenges faced by the health board with the loss of so many resident doctors at the same time.

“However, the BCUHB did inform patients that there would be no change in the service offered to patients at these surgeries.

“This is not the case and many hundreds of patients are not currently receiving an acceptable level of primary healthcare.

“This cannot be allowed to continue”

According to the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, while recruitment remains a challenge due to a national shortage of GPs, short-term action has already been taken including redeploying a salaried GP currently working in south Gwynedd for two days a week.

The public meeting will be held on Monday (November 4) at Holyhead Town Hall, starting at 7pm.

By Gareth Williams – Local Democracy Reporter



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