Update regarding the transfer of inpatient beds from Gorseinon Hospital to Singleton Hospital

At its regular monthly meeting yesterday (Thursday 25 September), Swansea Bay University Health Board approved the urgent, temporary transfer of the Gorseinon Hospital West Ward inpatient beds to Singleton Hospital.

The decision was made as a result of red flag safety concerns the Health Board had already made public – the safety concerns are mostly linked to staffing issues at the inpatient ward.

At all times during the discussion on the temporary relocation of the inpatient ward, the ongoing important role of Gorseinon Hospital was emphasised and a commitment made to its long-term future as a vibrant and important healthcare hub.

The hospital is a base for teams and a range of valuable services over and above the inpatient ward in question, including:

• Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy - supporting patients in the community
• Respiratory, cardiology and medicine, including the Heart Failure Clinic for patients across Swansea Bay
• A range of support services
• Community bladder and bowel health (catheter, stoma care etc)
• Home First Nursing team - supporting patients to return home
• Occupational therapy – supporting patients in the community
• Health visiting – the base for our health visiting team
• Parkinson’s Nurses – the base for this team too
• Speech and language therapy - supporting the acute clinical team
• Phlebotomy – blood collection for GPs and other patient referrals
• District and schools nursing.

These teams and services are unaffected.

During its meeting, the Health Board committed to an engagement event in Gorseinon in the New Year as part of its wider engagement on its next Clinical Services Plan – a plan that determines which services are provided where across the Health Board’s area.  As well as the dedicated event, there will be a range of other opportunities for the Gorseinon community to feed into the plan and to engage with the Health Board on an ongoing basis.

The context for that plan, however, would be the Health Board’s long-term commitment to Gorseinon Hospital and its consolidation and development as a vibrant healthcare hub.

Returning to the transfer of the inpatient beds to Singleton, the plans will now be finalised as a result of this decision.  This will involve discussions with patients likely to be in the ward at the transfer date as well as their families.  There will also be further discussions with members of staff regarding their individual circumstances – discussions that started some time ago.  All of these discussions will be held with a view to the transfer taking effect from 1 October.

The red flag safety concerns that prompted the temporary transfer related to a range of staffing issues, many of which were connected to staff unavailability which had resulted in excessively high levels of temporary staffing, sometimes over 50% on a shift. 

Connected to this, a number of concerns had been raised over recent months in relation to patient safety and staff cohesion. 

The Health Board was advised by its highly experienced Executive Director of Nursing and Patient Experience as well as its Executive Medical Director and consultant geriatricians that, taken together, the concerns raised and staffing issues being experienced, constituted too many red flags – red flags that merited immediate action on patient safety grounds.

That’s why the Health Board took this difficult decision - it will safeguard the patients and help address the staffing and leadership challenges.

Temporarily transferring the West Ward to Singleton and consolidating the relevant staff there will allow teams to support one another and enable the Health Board to manage staffing pressures more effectively, reducing our dependency on temporary staff.

Transferring the beds will also ensure that staff can access wider nursing, therapy and medical support at Singleton as well as leadership capacity.

The final decision on the temporary transfer of the beds was not taken lightly but the Health Board’s statutory responsibility is to safeguard the safety of its patients.  That will be its ongoing and overriding focus as it oversees the transfer and ensures that the patient safety concerns are addressed.  

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the Health Board decide to temporarily transfer the inpatient beds to Singleton Hospital?

The decision was made as a result of a number of red flag safety concerns that cannot be ignored.

What are these concerns?

They relate to staffing issues, not least high levels of staff unavailability that has resulted in some shifts being filled by around 50% temporary staff.  That in itself can result in a lack of team cohesion.

In addition, a number of safety concerns had been raised over recent months – concerns that could not be ignored.

How will this affect Gorseinon Hospital?

This decision only relates to the West Ward inpatient beds.  It does not affect any of the other teams and services based at Gorseinon Hospital.

But does it mean that Gorseinon Hospital will have less of a role in the future or that it could be closed?

Absolutely not.  At its meeting, the Health Board gave a cast-iron and long-term commitment to Gorseinon Hospital.  The discussion focused on developing Gorseinon Hospital as a vibrant and valuable healthcare hub providing a range of services for people across the wider area.

How can local people have a say about this?

The Health Board will be engaging in the New Year on its next Clinical Services Plan that provides a long-term road map for services, including which services are provided where.  Developing a vibrant and valuable role for Gorseinon Hospital will be part of this.  As well as engaging with people across the breadth of the Swansea Bay area, the Health Board has committed to holding an event in Gorseinon so that local people can feed in their views directly.

What about the staff affected by this decision?

The staff affected by the temporary transfer of the inpatient wards will be contacted and further discussions held with them regarding their individual circumstances and what, if any, support they might need.  This will be done as part of the final planning for the transfer of the beds and the appropriate staffing of the relocated ward at Singleton Hospital.