Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 21 January 2020.
First Minister, I have a report looking at how communities served by the Royal Glamorgan Hospital will be affected if consultant-led accident and emergency services are removed from there. The worst affected communities are to be found in mid Rhondda. The towns and villages at the top of the Rhondda Fach and Fawr can access Prince Charles Hospital relatively quickly via the Maerdy and Rhigos mountain roads. However, Rhondda residents who regularly use that route know that that's a dangerous assumption to make because in the winter those roads are often closed. Do you support the retention of consultant-led services at the Royal Glamorgan accident and emergency department and its ability to deal with trauma admissions? And will you be prepared to listen to the views of both patients and staff, especially those concerns around travel times, before any final decision on the future of consultant-led A&E in that hospital is made?