A team of advanced neonatal nurse practitioners has written to Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board condemning its plans to move care services to England.
Proposals currently under consultation would see level three neonatal care moved to the Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral.
A letter – passed to Shadow Health Minister Darren Millar AM tonight (and attached) heavily criticises the plan. The signatories are a team of Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (ANNPs) based at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Glan Clwyd Hospital: "We have been employed in this role having previously held senior neonatal nursing posts on the NICU and have a combined experience of over 40 years in caring for sick and premature infants and their families."
The letter makes reference to the ‘Healthcare in North Wales is Changing’ document and says ‘it states that only 36 babies in North Wales will be affected by the changes, however we believe this statement to be misleading, in that the proposed changes also have a much wider impact for all North Wales infants who require neonatal care.’
It also claims Arrowe Park Hospital is ‘misleadingly being portrayed as a centre of excellence in the Health Board press releases’ and that this ‘is not the case’.
Severe criticism is levelled at travelling times and the nurses also highlight the problem of breast milk – ‘Babies receiving neonatal intensive care rely on a regular supply of expressed breast milk from their mothers, if families are not able to visit regularly, this will not be available.’
Earlier this week a Welsh Conservative motion on neonatal care was passed in the Assembly. It called on the Welsh Government to 'ensure that level 3 neonatal care services will continue to be available within North Wales.'
Shadow Minister for Health and Clwyd West Assembly Darren Millar said:
"There were already huge concerns associated with the Health Board's proposals and the views conveyed in this letter – from specialists in the area – underlines just how dangerous they could be.
"It cannot be right to force parents with newborn babies to travel further for life-saving treatment and there can be no justification for removing the opportunity for a parent to choose the country of their children's birth.
"The views expressed by these dedicated neonatal nurses, along with the passing of this week’s motion in the Assembly, send a strong and clear message to the Health Board regarding their plans.
"The evidence against their proposals continues to grow and I sincerely hope that the Health Board will wake up and scrap these plans once and for all.
"Our neonatal services require investment and improvement - not service reconfiguration which has the potential to be detrimental to the lives of small and sick babies."