HEALTH watchdogs are demanding an urgent meeting over the future of Neath Port Talbot Hospital amid new fears it is going to be downgraded.

There are concerns it will lose its acute hospital status, meaning it would no longer be able to deal with medical emergencies.

But Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board says the hospital will continue to play a very important role in delivering services.

The doors of the hospital's elderly rehabilitation ward have already shut and there have been issues raised over the children's centre and the local accident centre.

It has triggered claims among staff that the site is deliberately being run down.

Now Neath Port Talbot Community Health Council, which represents patients' interests, is seeking an urgent meeting with ABM chief executive David Sisslings to clarify the board's intentions. ABM is working on a quality and service framework, a five- year strategic plan for delivering services across the board area.

Alarm bells started ringing when CHC chief officer Peter Owen attended a workshop on the framework, when he was told the first draft of the strategy was expected in February.

In a letter to Mr Sisslings, he said: "Given this time scale, I was somewhat surprised to find there appeared to be a consensus among the clinicians present for having only two acute hospitals in the ABM area, and an expectation that this would be the outcome of the review."

Mr Owen said the CHD strongly supported Neath Port Talbot as a local general hospital with the ability to admit acute medical emergencies.

He added: "It would regard any proposed change in that status, or any diminution in its current range of services, as a major service change requiring a formal public consultation."

But Mr Sisslings told the Post he wanted to make it absolutely clear Neath Port Talbot would continue to play a very important role in the care the health board delivered.

"We are, however, exploring ways we can improve services in all our hospitals and in our community facilities.

"We want to develop services which are locally accessible and provide a high quality of care," he said.

"At this time we are still gathering thoughts and ideas. We have encouraged the team involved in this process, which is led by senior clinicians, to be constructive, forthright and open-minded.

"We invited representatives from Neath Port Talbot CHC to join us in a planning workshop. We felt it would be useful for the CHC to be able to contribute to these early discussions and help them better understand the background to the various challenges we face. Bearing in mind this context, we were somewhat surprised to receive this letter from Mr Owen. However, we have arranged to meet him later this month to discuss his concerns."

paul.lewis@swwmedia.co.uk