Latest update on disruption and changes to services at Princess of Wales Hospital

The health board has spent around £20m maintaining the Princess of Wales Hospital in the last five years, prioritising those issues that had been identified as requiring immediate attention to safeguard patients and staff. This has includes repair work to the roof to address isolated leaks.

However, when the hospital suffered a more sustained and widespread series of leaks last month we immediately undertook work, involving specialist contactors, to carry out more invasive, comprehensive structural surveys of the  roof. Carrying our these surveys has required the erection of a complicated network of scaffolding to enable roofing experts to safely access the roof. The serious internal problems with the roof were not visible prior to this survey being carried out.

The roof replacement work will begin next month (November) and be carried out in stages. This means that as sections of the roof are replaced, we can move services and patients back into those areas while we carry on with the roof replacement work elsewhere.

The first phase of this work will include addressing the roof of the maternity and neonatal areas.

At this stage we cannot say exactly how long the work will take. However, this is a very substantial programme of work that we know will take many months to complete. It is likely to completed next (2025) summer.

Due to the condition of the roof on the main building at the Princess of Wales Hospital, it has been necessary to move patients out of wards on the first floor. This means accommodating around 200 patients in alternative settings.

A lot of detailed work has been taking place, involving the most senior clinical staff in the health board, to develop safe plans to move patients and we have now moved nearly all of these patients to alternative settings.

Each patient is individually, clinically assessed before they are moved to ensure they are transferred to the place that is most appropriate for their needs.

Patients who are well enough to be discharged – this means they no longer need the type of specialist care that can only be provided within an acute hospital – have been transferred home, or to another setting in the community that is more suitable for meeting their needs. This has included into care homes or community hospital beds.

Those patients who have healthcare needs that require ongoing specialist care, treatment or monitoring that can only be provided in an acute hospital, but who are well enough to  move to another hospital, have been transferred to another CTMUHB hospital: either the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in RCT, or the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, depending on which hospital can best meet their needs.

Patients with the most serious needs will remain in the Princess of Wales Hospital and be moved to another area in the hospital to continue with their treatment, care and recovery.

We understand that this will be worrying for patients and families. Before any patient is moved, we are discussing the next steps with them and involving their families as appropriate.

We will also continue to use our website and social media channels to share updates and information while this work takes place

While this is an unusual situation, the NHS is very used to responding to unexpected events so we are confident that we will be able to make the changes that are required to ensure our patients can continue to be cared for properly and safely.

We are very grateful to our patients, the public and our staff for their understanding and cooperation as we manage this complex situation.

We have now carefully transferred nearly 200 patients from the wards on the first floor of the Princess of Wales Hospital to alternative settings to continue with their ongoing care and recovery.

It has been also been necessary to close the six main operating theatres at the Princess of Wales Hospital. Patients who were booked to undergo a planned major operation at the POW Hospital, will instead have their operation within another of our hospitals.

We are continuing to provide day surgery at POW. A day surgery procedure is one that does not require the patient to stay in the hospital overnight after their surgery.

The intensive care unit at POW Hospital has also been moved to a new space within the same hospital minimising disruption for those patients who require the greatest medical support.

Yes, the Stroke Unit and other Stroke Services will be located at Royal Glamorgan Hospital from Thursday 31 October 2024.

Anyone experiencing any of the symptoms of a stroke, should access the Emergency Department (ED) as normal. The EDs at all of our hospitals (including Princess of Wales) continue to provide the urgent medical treatment needed by those suffering from a stroke.

If patients require ongoing in-patient care for a stroke, once stabilised, they are likely to be transferred to the stroke ward at Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

Yes. In order to ensure we can provide the best possible care and treatment for patients, and to safely accommodate those patients who are more unwell and require a bed, some patients are being transferred from POW to other hospitals run by our health board.

This means that some services provided from these hospitals need to be moved to other places too.

Any patients who are affected by these changes are being contacted directly by the health board. We are also contacting the families of patients who will be cared for in a different location to make them aware of any changes.

We know how important it is for patients to see family and friends while they are staying in hospital. When a patient is being moved to another space within POW or to another hospital we will let the family (or the next of kin as recorded on the patient’s notes) know as soon as possible.

We understand that it may be more difficult for people to visit patients in a different hospital and we are grateful for people’s understanding as we respond to this extraordinary situation and keep their loved-ones safe.

Yes; we began moving the first patients at the weekend (12/13 October). Some patients are now being looked after in different settings within POW hospital and some are continuing their recovery within the community in care homes and community hospital settings.

Over the coming days, we will continue to assess patients and – where appropriate – transfer them to alternative settings, including into other hospitals within CTMUHB to continue with their treatment, ongoing care and recovery.

We are working hard to minimise disruption to planned (or ‘elective’) surgery. However, because we cannot run all of our operating theatres in POW and have fewer beds in which patients can recover, it is necessary to postpone some procedures and tests.

Urgent appointments, including those for suspected or diagnosed cancers, will not be postponed.  

We only ever postpone operations and tests as a last resort and when this is in the best interest of patients. We understand how distressing it can be for patients and their families when an operation doesn’t go ahead as planned and work hard to rearrange appointments to the earliest possible date.

We can assure patients whose operations/procedures are postponed or moved to another site that that this will not affect their position on the waiting list.

We will always contact patients directly if it is necessary to change the date of a operation or other procedure.

If, during this period of works, a patient arrives at POW hospital and is assessed as requiring certain types of specialist emergency surgery, the expert clinical teams at the hospital will make the patient stable and arrange for them to be transferred urgently to another hospital to receive the care and treatment they need.

Transferring patients between hospitals, to enable them to receive specialist attention, is not unusual in the NHS and happens often when someone has suffered a serious trauma. 

Most patients who have suffered a serious trauma will arrive at hospital by ambulance, and would be taken directly to the hospital that is best equipped to treat them. 

To ensure we can safely move patients from POW to other hospitals in a timely manner we have commissioned a specialist vehicle from the ambulance service. This means these patients can be move under expert care, without having an impact upon the capacity of the ambulance service.

The emergency department (ED) is not affected by the issues we are managing in the older, first floor part of the main hospital.

The most important thing you can do is stay informed as to how these changes may affect you or your family. You can visit our website for the latest information, where we will regularly update this FAQ, or follow us on social media on Facebook or X.

We also need your cooperation, patience and support as we manage this unprecedented situation. Please remember that our staff are doing everything they can to minimise the disruption experienced by patients, the public and colleagues. Speculation or inaccurate information shared on social media is upsetting for staff and can make it more difficult for us to keep patients and other informed and safe.

We are very proud of the way our staff have responded to this situation and also want to thank the public for their support and understanding.