Judith Paget, Chief Executive of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board tells us about how health services in Gwent are changing……

I am delighted through this regular column to have the opportunity to keep you all updated on progress with our exciting Clinical Futures Programme.

Over the coming months, I will be updating you on what is happening with the new Hospital – The Grange University Hospital, which is being built at Llanfrechfa, Cwmbran.

I will also take the opportunity to let you know about what is happening with our other hospitals, our community and primary care services and also our work with our partners including those in social care and the third sector.

These are all part of our wider Clinical Futures Programme, which is going transform how we deliver healthcare services in the Gwent area.

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As you may know, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board plans and provides services for around 639,000 people who live in Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport, Torfaen as well as providing some services for the people living in South Powys.

We genuinely want to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone living in this area and make sure that you all have access to the right services, at the right time and in the right place and continue provide services of the highest quality and safety, which are delivered ideally in your own homes or as close to your home as possible.

To make this happen we will be making some big changes to the way we plan and deliver our services.

To do this we are developing and changing our services in three key areas:

  • We are increasingly providing more care closer to your homes and are going to offer even more services in this way in future;
  • We are developing our network of local hospitals so they can provide as much of the routine diagnostic and treatment services as possible within your own local area;
  • And we are centralising our most specialist and emergency care services in the new, purpose-built The Grange University Hospital which will also be the trauma unit for our area

We have already made some major changes to the way we deliver our services and you may have already experienced receiving your health care in a different way.

For instance, we have centralised our services for people who have experienced a stroke to the Royal Gwent Hospital to improve outcomes for patients.

There are more services available from your local pharmacist, such as the Minor Ailments Scheme.

We have also moved a number of services closer to where you live for example you can now access some diabetes services in your local GP surgery and we now have 24/7 district nursing teams delivering care in your local community.

We will continue to change the way we deliver our services, making sure that patients are at the centre of everything we do and every decision we make.

We will continue to update you through this column, but also through a range of communication and involvement activities, for example our Facebook and Twitter accounts, on our website and through engaging with you directly in local community venues, groups and societies.

Thank you for taking the time to read this column.

Next time I’ll be talking to you more about The Grange University Hospital and what you can expect to see there when it opens in the spring of 2021.