THE ROYAL COLLEGE of Paediatrics and Child Health has been commissioned by the Local Health Board to undertake an independent evaluation of the changes in women and children’s healthcare services in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.

As part of that exercise, a public meetingwasheldat WithybushHospital’s Conference Centre on the evening of Wednesday (Jul 29), at 5:30pm. Present were members of the panel charged with carrying out the review and around 300 members of the public.

As the first year anniversary of the Midwifery Led Unit approaches, the experiences shared with the panel were not as positive as the Health Board might have hoped.

And, as The Pembrokeshire Herald can now reveal, the nature of the written material submitted to the Community Health Council, is no less searing an indictmentthantheinformationdelivered to the panel in person on Wednesday.

Two retired members of staff, a paediatrician and a surgeon made it clear thatthechangeswroughtto Withybush’s level of care placed patients’ lives and well-being at risk, pointing out – in the latter instance – the statistical likelihood of additional infant mortality.

While the clinicians’ words were chilling, the experiences of patients clearly affected both those telling the panel of their experiences and the panel members.

The financial hardship caused by the changes to Pembrokeshire families were highlighted by two parents. The need for extra childcare to be paid for when attending Glangwili does not appear to have been taken into account as one of the inevitable effects of moving services away from where patients and their families actually live. She related how she was told she needed to be induced as there was no space available at the weekend.

One family were forced to take out an £8,000 loan to cover the cost of three months’ travel while their premature baby was in hospital with the baby’s mother. The human cost, also affected their older child due to the time spent travellingtoandfromhospitalmeantthat it had to spend an extended period with its grandparents.

Issues regarding transport links, the poor quality or lack thereof, and the absence of accessible public transport at weekends appeared to take the panel members aback. They were further distressed by the experiences of patients with paediatric and maternity services at Glangwili.

The chaos at Glangwili was also the subject matter of emotive submissions: one parent was told how he was told to leave the hospital at 6am, only to need to return three hours later when his child was taken to the Special Care Baby Unit. A couple, fed up with being told that the woman was not in labour because Glangwili staff were able to tell that she was not OVER THE PHONE, ended up delivering their own child in a layby at Canaston Bridge and transporting the baby to hospital wrapped in a coat.

On mum told how she was left in the gown she gave birth in, covered in blood, and with an epidural still in her.

Here is one sample of the patient experiences disclosed to The Herald which the panel will be considering: “My son was born in March. At two weeks old he started vomiting, so our GP changed his milk formula. Over the next few days my baby deteriorated rapidly. After an incident where he passed blood, I called the out of hours’ service at Care on Call. An ambulance was sent and he was rushed to Glangwili. He was in Glangwili for a week being treated for a milk allergy before I was told a heart murmur had been detected. Although poorly he was discharged. The following day I took him to Withybush. A heart scan was carried out and he was diagnosed with pyloric stenosis. I was toldhewouldhavediedhadwenottaken him to Withybush. He was blue-lighted all the way to Cardiff for emergency surgery, but because he was so weak he had to wait to be stabilised first. Had Withybush not been shut, he would have had his treatment and diagnosis straight away. Instead, we had a long and heart-breaking month. Thankfully, my son is slowly improving.”

The panel members were told that midwives who had been compelled to work at Glangwili with no compensation or alternative being given to them or face losing their jobs had left the service as a result of bullying and the demands being placed upon them and their families by the changes.

The Herald can reveal that in November 2014 a complaint was made to the Royal College of Midwives about the staffing culture and situation at Glangwili. The Herald can confirm that a dozen midwives have left or are in the process of serving their notice having quit.

When the service was obstetrician-led, there were five midwives on call overnight. There are now meant to be three covering the whole of Pembrokeshire AND the Midwifery Unit at Withybush. The Herald has been told that the reality of the situation is that often only two midwives are on duty in the county.

Marc Tierney, Labour Assembly Candidate for South Pembrokeshire told The Herald: “It was really important for me that, having made the case for Withybush on many occasions, so many people came along to share their experiences.

“I am very disappointed that the public meeting was so poorly organised. For the review to be trusted it must be builtongatheringasmanypatientstories as possible from across the area to balance the other statistical and clinical evidence being collected.

“That is why I called on the Review Team to undertake a further meeting in SouthPembrokeshireandinCarmarthen so patients there could meet face to face with the reviewers. This isn’t just about Withybush it is about how the services at Glangwili are meeting patient needs now.

“The Health Board and the Review Team have to get this right, regardless of the small additional costs or extra time that may be required.”