'We are absolutely terrified about what is happening'

“Neathboy234. You are right

I know, it's a shame because Labour will always be in control in Wales now. And they have ruined our country. I wish London gives full power to the assembly. They haven't a clue how to run the country. We should be one Britain that is united, but Welsh Labour only wants to pick the best bits, they don't want the financial powers for Wales.”

“williamwaun devolution in wales was always going to give us a labour gov”

“Commonsense or rather the lack thereof seems to sum up the actions of the ABM hierarchy.
Within the confines of Port Talbot lies the largest employer (private sector) in South Wales involved in a high risk work of Steel manufacture with a high casualty figure in death or injury.
Yet they close the nearest A&E centre,reason lack of doctors.
Solution: move doctors from other hospitals to cover,offer incentives if need be.Lack of funds? I attended outpatients in Morriston this week and lost count of clerical staff walking around with a piece of paper,busy doing nothing, so surplus to requirements like a lot of so called managers.Cut these out and funds to recruit MEDICAL staff will become available.”

“The welsh government give reduced price for doctor to go to university in Wales, then they get jobs in England. That's the Labour party in the assembly for you.”

“''' We are absolutely terrified about what is happening'' . The bad new's is - its happening all over Wales and the UK , but to me it sounds as if this CON/DEM Government is taking us down the Road to privatisation by with holding Good staff from the E.U and Locally for doing their Jobs that they trained for over many a year , this is why we are short of Medical staff .as they Retire they don't Replace them it Time . God help us in Time, What has Happened to The GOOD old N.H.S,”

“To "A BUM HB" spokesperson

Out if interest , how is morale in the New departments in Morriston and Bridgend since the transfer of staff and Departments ?
Hope everything is going smoothly !!!!!!!!!!!!”

“ABM Health Thanks for the response but what reason do doctors give for not taking up positions in Neath Port Talbot? Is it salary, location, T&C's?
On the last forum re; overspend, you stated that the overspend was due to an increase in admissions due to emergencies. The question I asked at the time was how many emergencies did it take to have an over spend of £7.4 million, a question that you said you would respond to.
Your response today is that the overspend is for this years budget but . You haven't included last years overspend in your figures either which is a carried forward loss and will need to be recouped in this financial year which means more cuts.
If, as you say, staff have reduced waste in staff and supplies should the cost of supplies also be looked at and a revisit made to contracts for drugs etc.
Your responses are welcomed but in my opinion still remain vague as to the relationship between budget and expenditure are concerned.”

“Last week I took my husbands medication by mistake I am on Warfarin and I also took 2 of his blood thinners plus his heart and kidney medication this was Friday evening where was I going to go if I went to NPT Hospital would they have been able to do a INR test or would I have had to go to Morriston you tell me I think less fighting for a bigger lane swimming pool more fighting for the loss of our hospital”

“As a health professional with 30 years experience and who in the last two years was subject to TUPE regulation when transferred from the NHS to the independent sector, I am glad that unions protect my rights. Immigrant1 you cannot seriously believe the hogwash you have written, because if you do you have obviously never been in a situation where your rights as a worker have been threatened or jeopardised by an employer. To suggest that the sole raison d'etre for unions is to hurt the public is nonsense. In this case health services are under threat, which in turn will threaten the quality of patient care and the occupations of the associated workforce. What do you expect union representatives to do role over and conceede it's a fair cop!!!!

I am astounded by the social bigotry and sterotyping that this article has drawn. How can anyone who has not worked in a healthcare setting make any comment about the standards of basic hygiene let alone suggest that's what 'union staff' should be concentrating on. I would love to see the evidence that suggests infection control would contribute more favourably than an adequately provided A&E dept.

Outside of those currently working in the NHS I would suggest that very few members of the public actually realise the financial constraints the ConDems have placed on it. In 2009/10 Chief Executives of health trusts were being told by central governement to prepare to make 20% cost savings over the next three years. GorseinonJoe in response to your qusetions about finance and the NHS, the governemt when it came into power made great play of the fact that they would not be reducing their funding of the NHS. What they did not tell you was that in real terms they would not be increasing the funding in line with inflation and the cost of living. So take ABMU as a healthcare trust, the chances are they are receiving the same money now as they were in 2009 and expected to provide the range of services we all take for granted. healthcare workers along with all public sector colleagues have also had their pay frozen for the last two years. There is no annual increase in health spending currently, you are right it is ring fenced but at a level that does not reflect the cost of living. You and I know that bying a litre of fuel now costs more than it did in 2009 it's the same for the NHS.

I could go on but can feel my blood boiling even more as I read these comments......sad days, sad mis-informed people!!!”

“"Immigrant1. The job of unions is to protect their members and in doing this they are also protecting the public"

Antyall, you are very naive if you think that these two things are one and the same.

For instance, A union would far prefer money being spent on wage raises than in buying new equipment for a hospital, regardless of which would actually help more patients.”