Council receives assurances over potential hospital disruption

Members of Bridgend County Borough Council have received assurances from Paul Mears, Chief Executive of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, regarding moves to manage potential disruption as a result of structural problems with the roof at the Princess of Wales Hospital.

Addressing a meeting of Council, Mr Mears explained that a full survey had confirmed that concrete tiles and support batons used in the construction of the roof had deteriorated over the last 40 years to the point where rain water is now able to enter the building.

As a result, around 190 patients and several clinics and units have moved to other parts of the hospital or to alternative sites due to the risk of parts of the roof collapsing during high winds or heavy rain.

Mr Mears said that while this has had an unavoidable impact on hospital services, plans are in place for managing and mitigating disruption for patients, and include options such as bringing in modular wards to provide additional accommodation or setting up temporary operating theatres and surgical beds.

Members heard that while a substantial replacement programme is required to address the problem with the roof, the health board is in the final stages of appointing a contractor. Beginning in November, work will be carried out in phases so that parts of the hospital can reopen each time a fresh stage is completed. The replacement roof is expected to be complete and in place by summer 2025.

Mr Mears also confirmed that costs for the replacement roof have been estimated at £20m, and that the health board is currently in discussions with Welsh Government regarding this.

Answering individual questions from members, Mr Mears acknowledged that the issues with the roof were part of a multi-million maintenance backlog that the health board had inherited when it took on responsibility for the Bridgend County Borough area in 2019. He clarified that more than £20m had been spent addressing this over the last five years, and explained why issues with the roof had not been addressed previously.

He said: “The Princess of Wales Hospital site had significant problems with its fire alarm system, its electrical infrastructure and a number of other things not immediately visible to patients or staff. We had to make sure that we were spending money on things that posed the most direct risk, and at that time, the roof was not deemed to be the most significant.”

When asked if funding had been focussed more upon refurbishing the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil at the expense of the Princess of Wales in Bridgend, Mr Mears said: “It is not a question of prioritising one hospital over another, but more a case of constantly looking at the risks we are managing, and making sure that where appropriate we can concentrate our resources on where they are most in need.”

Discussing how families can keep in touch with patients who may have had to move location, Mr Mears said: “We have been talking to every patient and their family. The first priority was to get people into the new locations, but now that they are starting to settle down, we are looking at how is it all working for them, whether any particular issues are being flagged, and whether we should be thinking about opportunities for providing some transport to different locations.”

Talking about whether lessons would be learned and what procedures might be put in place to avoid future critical incidents, Mr Mears told members: “We will be looking back at what has happened since we took on the Princess of Wales site. Our estates team have a regular programme in place for reviewing our sites and identifying where we have backlog maintenance issues, and also a process for how we are going to spend our resources on the highest priority.”

Mr Mears offered assurances around the ongoing welfare of staff at the hospital and confirmed that they had access to 24/7 health and wellbeing support. He also outlined how more community-based support was being developed via a ‘hospital at home’ initiative for discharged patients, explained that assessments were in place to ensure patients with issues such as dementia or learning difficulties could attend an alternative location appropriate for their needs, and confirmed that unless they were contacted with updated details, people waiting for a scheduled appointment at the Princess of Wales Hospital should attend as normal.

I apologise for the impact of these current challenges, but I want to reassure you that every decision we have made has been based around making sure we can keep our patients and staff as safe as possible with the risks that we know about.

Paul Mears, Chief Executive of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board

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