THE 'Keep the Heart in the Hospital Campaign' has gone on the attack following comments made by Powys Health Chief Andy Williams in last week's Brecon and Radnor Express. Campaign Chairman Keith Rofe said: "As a group we find that certain comments attributed to Mr Andy Williams in last week's Brecon and Radnor Express are somewhat confusing and misleading. "We are particularly concerned with his comment 'Huge progress has been made for example, in implementing a £100,000 investment package that offers a weekly rapid access chest pain clinic, plus heart failure and general out patient clinics and the thrombolysis in the Minor Injury Unit'. We cannot understand how those services can be offered to patients as the clinics do not exist. "I currently serve on a group considering the reconfiguration of services at the hospital and having attended all four meetings no mention of the existence of such clinic facilities and services has been made to date. Therefore may I invite Mr Williams to actually show us where these clinic facilities are or to explain at what stage the implementation referred to, is at. "Much also is made of a £100,000 investment. We had previously understood from Mr Williams that the £100,000 was in the main identified for the salary of the cardiologist and not as implied in Mr Williams public comment for clinic facilities. "In fairness however to Mr Williams, the 'spin' on these issues, which we believe may have led to what could be considered as misleading statements to the public could be attributed as much to the Cardiff based public relations company, engaged by Mr Williams to construct the press release as to Mr Williams himself. "Nevertheless greater clarity is required from Mr Williams so the public, staff at the hospital and ourselves can fully appreciate what services are actually available at the hospital. "We therefore invite Mr Williams to make a public statement to clarify the situation in respect of the cardiac clinics referred to in his above statement. "We contend that the reality is, that despite assurances given at that public meeting called by Brecon Town Council in January 2003, two years later, and given prominence in your issue of the March 12, 2003, we are no further forward in the provision of the promised cardiac services. We are always pleased to hear Mr Williams public commitment in respect of the Breconshire War Memorial hospital but we believe that what is now required is less rhetoric and more delivery of what Mr Williams has promised "In keeping with Mr Williams commitment to the hospital he did ensure that a review group was established in March 2003 to make recommendations in respect of future services at the hospital. The group consisted of county councillors, medical professionals and policy makers for which Mr Williams sought maximum publicity. Surprisingly the group was disbanded without reason or explanation to the members of the group, before it could make the final recommendations. Finally we have serious concerns in respect of the Ambulance Service provision in South Powys. This is an integral part of the cardiac care in this area and our research has indicated that the service is under-resourced and consequently response times required for cardiac arrests of within eight minutes cannot be consistently achieved, particularly as the ambulance may be off station at Nevill Hall. "We shall however be raising these issues and others in an anticipated meeting with the Minister for Health Dr Brian Gibbons in the near future."
