ON December 16, 2004, the Penarth Times front page carried the report ‘Consultation a Sham’ by Ian Bebb, to which I was asked to contribute. I, and the women I advised, were proved to be correct, as the LHB ignored all of our submissions and transferred the acute maternity services to UHW at a staggering cost that was initially quoted as being £14m. On June 8, 2004, at a patients panel meeting, Brenda Rees, head of midwifery, said a shortage of midwives was to blame, while Tracy Hill said that the reasons for the move were due to ‘inefficiencies, bad management, and a need to reduce the disproportionately high costs’.

Now, we are informed that the expensively refurbished and staffed midwife unit at Llandough will also be transferred to UHW in Cardiff, leaving at least 400 women per year wondering how they will manage to get adequate care for their babies, having to travel from all points in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Of course, 400 births per year at Llandough was in 2003, so the figures now must be well in excess of 500 babies to be born ‘in the Vale’ in 2010.

Once again, cost-saving is being put before new human life. No regard has been given to excessive administrative costs in hospitals, local governments, quangos, or the hugely populated Welsh Assembly Government offices in Cathhays Park and Cardiff Bay.

Why should health be the number one target for cuts, when the NHS promised local care at the point of need?

First, it was the elderly mentally infirm, then the adult mentally ill, and now we have new-born children being put at risk as a ‘soft option’ to the real problems - bad management, bad planning, and no needs-assessments made for over ten years. Existing services do not meet existing need, and never will.

Isn’t it time that the public insisted on change, instead of being mindless sheep being led by our inept ‘leaders’?

Robin Williams – Patient Advocate Gwyn James Court Sundew Close Penarth