Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:05 pm on 6 February 2019.
Could I ask the Minister, in terms of guidance, are we in any way hamstrung by the constraints that are on health boards in terms of consultations? Before Christmas, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board went out to consultation on an issue around Maesteg hospital. It wasn't framed as 'the future of Maesteg hospital; how we can look at the long-term future of it, what we can do on reconfiguration of services'. It was big up on the overhead projector on Maesteg town hall with a couple of hundred people watching it: 'Closure of day hospital', which many people, by the way, conflated with the closure of the hospital itself rather than the day unit and the respite care provided. They've paused that because of the overwhelming objections to the proposals going forward and they're going to come back and reconsult. But one of the things they say to me is they're limited by how they frame that. They have to frame it in terms of closure of a unit as opposed to asking people, 'What would you like to see here to meet the modern needs of Maesteg and the upper Afan valley?' and so on. So, is there a problem with our guidance that is constricting the way in which health boards can go out and actually consult people on what they want to see as the future of their very important local facilities?