Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend declares critical incident over rotting roof
Katie Fenton has the latest from the hospital.
A critical incident has been declared at a leak-hit hospital after officials discovered parts of the roof have rotted away.
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said a survey has identified "more serious internal long-term damage" to the roof of the Princess of Wales Hospital's main building in Bridgend, which will cost millions of pounds to repair.
Rainwater has been entering the building through the roof, but authorities now know the scale of the problem to be much bigger than previously thought, with the tiles reaching "the end of their lifespan", leading to the battens underneath rotting and "in many instances (they) have completely disintegrated".
Around 190 patients are currently affected, with the health board saying it is working hard to either discharge patients, send them to residential or nursing homes, or transfer them to other facilities in the health board area.
Paul Mears, the health board's chief executive, told ITV Cymru Wales: "This is not a patching job - this is going to require a full refurbishment of the roof, so we're working closely with our colleagues in Welsh Government to discuss how we will fund that both in this financial year and into the next financial year.
"For a hospital of this size and scale of project, we're probably talking many months of work. Clearly we've got to manage it because we're working in a live environment, so part of what we're trying to do now is work out how we decant areas to enable us to work, because clearly we don't want to be working in an area where we've got patients residing.
"That will naturally mean it takes a bit longer than if we had a completely empty hospital to work on."
Asked if patients and staff had been in danger, he said: "The measures we're taking are precautionary measures to make sure that we're doing everything possible to mitigate the risks that have been identified and shared with us yesterday (Wednesday).
"But I'd like to reassure people that the care they receive now is not being compromised, but obviously, we will be communicating with patients and their families who are affected by any changes to make sure they understand the risks, how we're mitigating them, and if they need to be transferred to another facility, how we will help them move to where they're going."
Asked if the roof - which is more than 40 years old - was at risk of collapsing at any moment, he said: "Not at any moment, no, no."
Mr Mears advised patients with an outpatient appointment to attend unless they are told otherwise, while inpatients will be communicated with over the coming days about a plan of action for their area.
"Some of those patients who are the most medically unwell will be staying here and will be moving things around within the site onto the ground floor," he said.
"Those that can go elsewhere will be moved potentially to other facilities, but that will be done on an individual patient basis.
"We'll risk assess every patient and make sure that is communicated to that patient and their families as soon as we know what the plan will be for them."
The full statement from the health board had said: "Following ongoing issues at Princess of Wales Hospital with rain water entering the building through the roof, specialist contractors have conducted a full survey of the condition of the roof of the main building across the site.
"As well as informing some immediate actions, that survey has identified more serious internal long-term damage to the roof of the hospital that will require an extensive programme of replacement and repair.
"We are dealing with this as a critical incident, and are now exploring all options to ensure we can continue to provide care in a safe environment for those patients and staff in our wards and those who will need care in the future.
"The options will need to include the use of the whole health board’s facilities to ensure we have the capacity to meet all our patients’ needs.
"We are treating this work as a priority and will continue to communicate with people directly and through the range of channels available to us."
A critical incident is usually declared when a health board is struggling to cope with unprecedented demand. It can also be used to describe an event which could cause serious harm the health or welfare of the patient.
Mr Mears warned that many NHS buildings in Wales "are reaching a life expectancy and things need replacing and repairing".
He said: "We're doing that against the backdrop of resources that are quite constrained but I would also say that we've been able to invest and put money into the things that are really important and clearly, as I said earlier, the Welsh Government have been hugely helpful and receptive and appreciate the urgency of the need to make sure that this particular issue is dealt with swiftly."
Mr Mears had said in an earlier statement: "The safety of our staff and patients on site remains our top priority, and we are taking immediate action to bring the roof, which is more the 40 years old, up to an acceptable and modern standard.
"We fully appreciate how this is both concerning and disruptive for patients and their families, but we are committed to putting these plans in place to ensure our patients continue to be cared for properly and safely.
"This will involve some health board services and care being provided in a different place. We are currently working through these options to ensure that this causes minimal disruption to patients.
"While this is a significant situation, moving patients is not unusual – it regularly takes place to enable patients to receive scans, or receive treatment. Our staff are very used to responding quickly to ensure continuity of patient care during challenging times."
Other large hospitals in the health board area are the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant and Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
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