Please copy and paste the letter below and send to NHS Wales to support our campaign for the Welsh trauma centre to be based in Swansea:

Submission responses should be sent to:

Email: nhswhc.strategicplanning@wales.nhs.uk

Post: Freepost MAJOR TRAUMA CONSULTATION

Please include your name, address and contact details when sending submissions.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing in response to NHS Wales’s consultation on Major Trauma Units.  In answer to your questions:

1. Do you agree or disagree that a major trauma network should be established for South and West Wales and South Powys?

Yes

2. Do you agree or disagree that the development of the major trauma network for South and West Wales and South Powys should be based on the recommendations from the independent panel?

No, I disagree with the panel’s claim that “Neither Morriston Hospital or University Hospital of Wales as a major trauma centre would have any significant advantage over the other in terms of geography.” There is significant evidence that being within 60 minutes of a Major Trauma Centre can be a matter of life and death.

If the Major Trauma Centre were located in Cardiff, as proposed, many families in South West Wales who live outside this hour journey time would be unable to access the treatment quickly enough. There are insufficient air ambulances to avoid this.

Furthermore, Cardiff is within an hour of Bristol’s Major Trauma Centre.

This means that the Major Trauma Centre should be in Swansea not Cardiff. Cardiff Residents will then have a choice between Bristol and Swansea and West Wales will be within an hour of treatment.

3. If we develop a major trauma network for South and West Wales and South Powys is there anything else we should consider?

Not establishing the Trauma Centre at Morriston would reduce Swansea’s attractiveness for training, recruitment and retention of doctors.

There has been a drift of NHS services eastwards to Cardiff when the central South Wales location to provide equity of NHS access is Morriston where there is available, more affordable land and motorway connection.

Therefore, the Major Trauma Centre for South Wales should be in Morriston Hospital in Swansea with a minor facility in Cardiff.