P-04-479 Tywyn Memorial Hospital X-ray & Minor Injuries Unit Petition – Correspondence from the petitioner to the Clerking Team, 01.10.14.

Hello Kayleigh, I am sorry that I have a late response to the letter that you sent to Brian Mintoft in regard to this petition which was written by Trevor Purt to Mr William Powell on the 1st of July. This has only just come to my attention as Brian Mintoft has now left the area and moved to Plymouth and I have only just opened my e.mail which was sent from Brian on the 29th of this month. My name is Jennifer Windsor and I did accompany Brian to the Petition Committee meeting which was held in Prestatyn. Although I understand that there was a deadline of midday today for you to receive comments and input for the forthcoming session of the 7th of October I feel that I have a very simple and important fact to present that appears to have been overlooked in this case. Mr Purt has gone to great lengths to confirm that procedure has been put into place by the Health Board which consists of an enhanced service agreement with the G.P's practice in Tywyn and also by, what is suggested to be, a close working relationship in the supply of cross-cover for certain aspects of service between the practice and the hospital for the provision of Minor injuries services to Tywyn. The G.P's practice is open for four and a half days per week and the minor injuries unit at the hospital is open for seven days of the week during the summer months (which is actually 6 months of the year) and five days for the remaining half of the year. The times of availability of both of these services vary slightly which is where the cross-cover may come into effect. The important fact of the matter and what we were petitioning about is that when the Minor Injuries Service is unavailable, for six months, during the Winter and during the weekends the G.P's practice is also closed and unavailable.Consequently no matter what provisions it appears may have been put into place Tywyn is still left without a Minor Injuries Service, with no alternative service, for two days per week for six months of the year when, due to difficulties of weather and type of terrain, it is far less easy to access services in outlying areas. We would just like some acknowledgement of this particular fact. To my particular knowledge we have not displayed strong feelings during this petition over the loss of the overnight service. That point which was raised by Mr Purt is superfluous and distracts from the real point that we have made about inequality of service provision in Tywyn for six months of the year compared to other areas. Although it is difficult to predict what provision will be made when the G.P's practice becomes part of the new hospital refurbishment, the G.p's will still then only have a limited time of availability in practice and will doubtfully be supplying weekend cross-cover in place of the Minor Injuries Unit. With kind regards, Jennifer Windsor.