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Have signed, twittered, facebooked and emailed Melody to spread the word. It's doing well now Badg, let's just hope it makes a difference

I know this might sound a little controversial Neil and I know this will obv be a subject close to your heart but i`m airing my question so that you can paint me a clearer picture. I have read 2 reports but I might not be aware of all the facts.

The proposal as I understand is not to close the SCBU units in Wales but to transfer those babies that require long term ventilation using more specialised equipment and more specialist nursing skills that aren`t currently available in Wales. I read that this move will actually only involve around 36 babies per year? I also read a report that says the majority of the babies that this will affect would already be moved anyway to specialist units such as alder hey in Liverpool due to serious conditions ie. cardiac that cannot be treated in Wales.

Don`t shout me down as it`s a serious question but if the SCBU services are not being closed and will remain open and if these babies that would be moved are being moved anyway due to serious medical conditions why are people opposing it?? It will only affect a minority of babies born (around 36 a year) and these babies might die without the specialised modern equipment being offered elsewhere.

The only opposition I can find is that families feel the move will add to the stress and heartbreak already being felt due to increased journey times etc. However having lost a baby at birth I would rather travel 80 miles and have the chance of my childs survival increased than have my child remain where it was and possibly have an increased chance of death due to the non availability of specialised equipment and care. Nowadays most of the major hospitals such as Alder Hey have recognised the need for families to be close to their poorly sick babies so they have built family accommodation within the grounds of the hospital that is available free of charge for as long as required.

It also occurred to me that if a SCBU unit has a limited number of ventilators available and these ventilators are already being used by babies who require long term ventilation (ie. for 4 weeks upwards) then surely moving babies who require long term ventilation to other units will ensure that more ventilators are available for newborn babies? It would be unbearable to think that a baby was born and there wasn`t a ventilator available due to it already been needed long term for another baby.

It`s not that i`m saying the proposal is a good one, I`m just saying give me some more facts that paint a clearer picture of the proposal because the reports I read actually made it sound a positive step. Overall as a result of the proposal wouldn`t infant survival rates actually increase??

That was the understanding , the inside word is that they are trying to close the high dependancy units down in Wrexham Maelor and Glan Clwyd Hospitals as well . This would leave us with nothing here at all apart from the usual Maternity services for normal births . Something far greater is going on than we have been told , they have rushed this through before the period of consultation was officially over . Your point is a great one Claire , as I can understand the reasoning behind it , but the follow on from it all is what we are unhappy about . We would like to see the local SCBU run alongside the facility at Arrowe Park and we want our board to employ the right people and have the right equipment for both places . When they start cutting services , the existing staff get jumpy and we end up losing some excellent people . My petition is for not moving all of the services out of Wales .

They say that the SCBU is unsustainable in North Wales as a complete package , if we were downgraded then fair enough , but the general feeling is that they are trying to send the whole lot over to Arrowe Park . There are a lot of other issues as well in other departments and local areas that don`t seem to have been thought out very well either . Two board members resigned on Friday over these decisions and the whole thing seems to be getting very messy . I will try and dig out a recent Q and A for you and glean some facts to read . The local council also voted and passed a motion that stated they had "Zero Trust in the boards handling" . I will have a rummage for you and see what was printed the other day . The board are strangely silent on the matter .

In other news I was interviewed yesterday by BBC Wales News and made it onto prime time television here , and was also interviewed by the Daily Post today so might be in the papers this week about a March that I attended yesterday in Llandudno .

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/need...5578-32821703/

There you go Claire , our point is that they want to spend an extra few million in transferring these babies back and forth across North Wales , would that money not be better spent in upgrading the existant services so that no child or parent has to be moved and both sites are better served ?

The equipment and service for transferring the very premature babies along with staffing is going to be costly , why not entice Neonatal staff to North Wales and have a centre of excellence here with zero transfers apart from serious surgery cases ? .

I can see everybody would be upset to lose all the SCBU services... I truly hope it doesn`t come to that

I know they`ve been having trouble recruiting in Wales but as you say if the unit was upgraded as opposed to downgraded then maybe it would attract some highly experienced nurses back into the area.

I think that a lot of the time these decisions are made at board level before they`re even released to the public and they`ve probably done their sums and worked out which method is cheapest. That`s the problem, the NHS is being run as a business and where it used to be patient centred it`s now finance centred and they don`t consider the cost to patients and patient lives.

Well done with your protest yesterday and your airtime and again, I hope the units don`t end up being totally closed.

[cymroboi]

done ....

Cheers Cymroboi .

They have said it isn`t actually about money , they reckon on spending 3.4 Million on transport to/from Arrowe Park . My argument is that it would be better to spend that money between the 2 sites on equipment and find Staff for North Wales . There were more resignations today . My piece appeared in the Daily Post today and a Welsh Assembly Cabinet Member wants to speak to me tomorrow about the petition as well . All going off up here with regards to the Board and Politicians at the moment .

I think it all comes down to money where the NHS is concerned Neil... you wouldn`t believe the cuts we`ve had in our service. We`re losing staff continuously and it`s the same in all areas of nursing unfortunately. It it costs 3.4 million on transport it`s gonna cost a hell of a lot more to recruit the required number of staff and the salaries that will incur

Re. the petition it sounds like you`re being heard tho so let`s hope it can bring about change if closing the SCBU is on the cards. At the end of the day this is all about giving babies the best chance of survival in whatever form that takes.

I just heard something on the news headlines , sounds like it may have been referred to the Welsh Assembly , just waiting for the news to come around to that item

Originally Posted by Speedy Claire

the end of the day this is all about giving babies the best chance of survival in whatever form that takes.

Totally agree , I don`t know the ins and outs of it all , I can`t possibly know but there has to be a better resolution than the one offered