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Hywel Dda: Working together for care home residents

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Health and social care partners and Independent Care Home Providers in West Wales are working together to ensure people with COVID-19 are treated with dignity and respect and involved as much as possible in decisions about their care and treatment whether they are in a hospital or care home.

Care homes are a central and essential part of frontline services in West Wales, in particular by ensuring and supporting the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable of the population. Many of our care settings are facing significant challenges and supporting care staff in these settings has never been more important. We recognise that this is a time of great anxiety for families of residents and the care homes who provide such outstanding care throughout this unprecedented time.

Hywel Dda University Health Board and County Councils in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire are working together to support care homes and deliver the best possible care to vulnerable people in a timely and appropriate way.

This means a wide range of key workers from doctors, nurses, health care support workers, carers, assistants, cleaners, transport workers, managers and volunteers are all playing their part in planning, advising and providing the care older people need, taking account of their wishes.

Across our communities, we are seeing examples of exemplar working from clinicians supporting and providing direct care in the care home setting. This can involve hospital clinicians collaborating with GPs and community teams and also the transfer of residents into hospital when needed. Technology is also being utilised in many care homes so that they can maintain contact with District Nurses and GPs in a timely manner.

Jill Paterson, Director of Primary, Community and Long Term Care, said: “We are working really hard as a whole Health and Care Community, with the shared goal of providing the best care for residents of Care Homes , preventing further spread of the disease, and protecting the safety of care givers.”

Dr Sion James, Deputy Medical Director at Hywel Dda, added: “General Practice and Community teams across the Health Board are offering continuing and increased support to patients in our care homes.  We are working as a team across Health and Social care to provide care for this important vulnerable groups.  GP Practices are contacting care homes on a daily basis to ensure that residents are getting the care they need.”

Jake Morgan, Statutory Director of Social Services in Carmarthenshire said: “This is an extraordinarily challenging time for our care workforce who are on the front line dealing with this pandemic. Over the last few weeks we have been able to offer our care homes additional financial support, advice and protective equipment to support them in carrying out their critical role. We will continue to do all we can to support care staff doing a remarkable job in these challenging times.”

Eifion Evans, Chief Executive of Ceredigion County Council, added: “We are working very closely with our Health Board colleagues in ensuring we maintain the required services to our most vulnerable in a safe and timely manner throughout this period. We also thank and acknowledge our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one supporting the health and social care sector in Ceredigion.”

Geriatrician and Consultant Physician at Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli Dr Andy Haden, has recently had experience of working closely with a Llanelli care home where a number of residents were affected by COVID-19.

He explained: “In the past few weeks I have been working closely with a care home affected by the disease, as it can be serious in that setting. Myself, Palliative Care consultants and Specialist and General Nurses and Local Authority staff have been supporting people in the Home.

“What has been really important is an individualised approach where we do the right thing for the person affected, and we ask them what their wishes are, of if they cannot speak for themselves, seek help from family or carers. For some people that will mean ensuring they come into the hospital and for others it will be support at the end of their life in their home environment where they are comfortable and cared for with compassion and dignity.”

Crime

Woman stabbed partner in Haverfordwest before handing herself in

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A WOMAN who stabbed her partner during a drug-fuelled episode walked straight into Haverfordwest Police Station and told officers what she had done, Swansea Crown Court has heard.

Amy Woolston, 22, of Dartmouth Street in Milford Haven, arrived at the station at around 8:00pm on June 13 and said: “I stabbed my ex-partner earlier… he’s alright and he let me walk off,” prosecutor Tom Scapens told the court.

The pair had taken acid together earlier in the day, and Woolston claimed she believed she could feel “stab marks in her back” before the incident.

Police find victim with four wounds

Officers went to the victim’s home to check on him. He was not there at first, but returned shortly afterwards. He appeared sober and told police: “Just a couple of things,” before pointing to injuries on his back.

He had three stab or puncture wounds to his back and another to his bicep.

The victim said that when he arrived home from the shop, Woolston was acting “a bit shifty”. After asking if she was alright, she grabbed something from the windowsill — described as either a knife or a shard of glass — and stabbed him.

He told officers he had “had worse from her before”, did not support a prosecution, and refused to go to hospital.

Defendant has long history of violence

Woolston pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding. The court heard she had amassed 20 previous convictions from 10 court appearances, including assaults, battery, and offences against emergency workers.

Defending, Dyfed Thomas said Woolston had longstanding mental health problems and had been off medication prescribed for paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
“She’s had a difficult upbringing,” he added, saying she was remorseful and now compliant with treatment.

Woolston was jailed for 12 months, but the court heard she has already served the equivalent time on remand and will be released imminently on a 12-month licence.

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BBC apologises to Herald’s editor for inaccurate story

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THE BBC has issued a formal apology and amended a six-year-old article written by BBC Wales Business Correspondent Huw Thomas after its Executive Complaints Unit ruled that the original headline and wording gave an “incorrect impression” that Herald editor Tom Sinclair was personally liable for tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

The 2019 report, originally headlined “Herald newspaper editor Tom Sinclair has £70,000 debts”, has now been changed.

The ECU found: “The wording of the article and its headline could have led readers to form the incorrect impression that the debt was Mr Sinclair’s personal responsibility… In that respect the article failed to meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy.”

Mr Sinclair said: “I’m grateful to the ECU for the apology and for correcting the personal-liability impression that caused real harm for six years. However, the article still links the debts to ‘the group which publishes The Herald’ when in fact they related to printing companies that were dissolved two years before the Herald was founded in 2013. I have asked the BBC to add that final clarification so the record is completely accurate.”

A formal apology and correction of this kind from the BBC is extremely rare, especially for a story more than six years old. 

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Business

First wind turbine components arrive as LNG project moves ahead

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THE FIRST ship carrying major components for Dragon LNG’s new onshore wind turbines docked at Pembroke Port last week, marking the start of physical deliveries for the multi-million-pound renewable energy project.

The Maltese-registered general cargo vessel Peak Bergen berthed at Pembroke Dock on Wednesday 26th November, bringing tower sections and other heavy components for the three Enercon turbines that will eventually stand on land adjacent to the existing gas terminal at Waterston.

A second vessel, the Irish-flagged Wilson Flex IV, has arrived in Pembroke Port today  (Thursday) carrying the giant rotor blades.

The deliveries follow a successful trial convoy on 25 November, when police-escorted low-loader trailers carried dummy loads along the planned route from the port through Pembroke, past Waterloo roundabout and up the A477 to the Dragon LNG site.

Dragon LNG’s Community and Social Performance Officer, Lynette Round, confirmed the latest movements in emails to the Herald.

“The Peak Bergen arrived last week with the first components,” she said. “We are expecting another delivery tomorrow (Thursday) onboard the Wilson Flex IV. This will be blades and is currently showing an ETA of approximately 03:30.”

The £14.3 million project, approved by Welsh Ministers last year, will see three turbines with a combined capacity of up to 13.5 MW erected on company-owned land next to the LNG terminal. Once operational – expected in late 2026 – they will generate enough electricity to power the entire site, significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

The Weather conditions were favourable for the arrival of the Wilson Flex IV, which was tracking south of the Smalls at midnight.

The abnormal-load convoys carrying the components from the port to Waterston are expected to begin early next year, subject to final police and highway approvals.

A community benefit fund linked to the project will provide for residents in nearby Waterston, Llanstadwell and Neyland.

Further updates will be issued by Dragon LNG as the Port of Milford Haven as the delivery programme continues.

Photo: Martin Cavaney

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