A WATCHDOG and health board has announced the date of further public engagement meeting ahead of proposed changes to frail older persons healthcare in the Vale

The meeting, where proposals for the closure-threatened Barry Hospital Sam Davies ward will be scrutinised, takes place in the corporate suite of Vale civic offices, in Holton Road, Barry, from 7pm to 8.30pm, on Wednesday, October 30 – two days before the public consultation deadline on Friday, November 1.

Chief officer of the CHC (community health council), Stephen Allen said: “ We have been working with the Cardiff & Vale University Health Board to secure a date and ensure this is well publicised, whilst we recognise this is very close to the end of the engagement process, we are sure there will be sufficient time for people to respond if they wish to.

“No final decisions regarding proposed changes to NHS services in Barry can be made until the Health Board has received the CHC’s feedback.

He added that the CHC executive ommittee will meet in public in the Civic Offices, in Barry, at 10am on December 10 to consider the outcome of the engagement process.

Meanwhile, Vale AM Jane Hutt AM welcomed constituents to the Senedd on Wednesday, October 9 when they presented a petition with nearly 13,000 signatures to the petitions committee to save the Sam Davies ward.

Ms Hutt said: “I have met with staff and visited the Sam Davies Ward, to talk to patients and carers and I have raised my deep concerns about the proposals to close the ward with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.

“I have called for full public consultation about their plans in line with South Glamorgan Community Health Council’s formal procedures.

“I have also met with the Health Board and I said that feedback on patient and carers satisfaction of Sam Davies ward - which has provided step down facilities over the past 25 years - has been clear.

She added: “I will be responding in full to the health board’s engagement and I encourage as many local people as possible to feedback about how important this ward is to people in the Vale by the deadline of November 1.”

And Vale MP Alun Cairns will hold a community surgery on the proposed ward closure in Brynhill Golf Club, Port Road, Barry, at 6.30pm on Thursday, October 17.

The surgery, for Vale constituents, is an opportunity to establish the facts around the public consultation to ensure that residents can effectively engage with the health board.

Views can be sent to ValeCare.FrailOPengagement@wales.nhs.uk or general manager, Ward C6 Corridor – Directorate Management Office, Integrated Medicine Directorate, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XW.

South Glamorgan Community Health Council is also collecting responses via SouthGlam.chiefofficer@waleschc.org.uk