Campaign Success – Every Welsh Council Leisure Centre soon to be Sunbed Free

We are absolutely delighted that after our recent sunbeds campaign, the three remaining local authorities in Wales (Vale of Glamorgan, Flintshire and Wrexham) who continued to operate and profit from sunbeds are on the road to removing them.

That means by April next year, no local authority owned leisure centre will operate sunbeds.

Our campaign exposed the shocking profits the three Councils were making from sunbeds – a combined profit of around £46,000 annually.

After our success in securing a commitment from the Vale of Glamorgan to remove the five sunbeds it operated across the county we pledged to take the campaign to North Wales – to Wrexham and Flintshire – who were the only ones left operating sunbeds.

The fact that the Vale has already bowed to pressure and removed its sunbeds and Wrexham Council have agreed to remove the ones it operates by April next year, is a great result for local public health. Next week, Flintshire Council’s Executive is to consider the issue and is expected to announce the removal of all sunbeds before the end of the year – determined not to be the last authority in Wales to do so.

The link between exposure to UV radiation and skin cancer is now indisputable – shown by the recent decision by the International Agency for Research on Cancer to raise the sunbed classification to “carcinogenic to humans” and the fact that the sunbed industry is largely unregulated in the UK.

The removal of all sunbeds operated by local authorities sends a clear message to the public on the dangers of sunbed use.

We’ll continue fighting for tighter regulation of the Commercial sunbed industry – especially for a ban on coin-operated / unsupervised salons and use by under 18s, a move we understand the Assembly's Health Minister has asked her officials to look into.

Exposing Wrexham Council’s sunbed profits

Our continuing campaign to highlight the dangers of sunbeds has revealed figures showing that over the last five years Wrexham Council has generated in excess of £83,000, by operating ten sunbeds in three of its leisure centres.

We were able to obtain the figures under a Freedom of Information request. And we are now calling for the immediate removal of all sunbeds from local authority-owned premises and for tighter regulation of the sunbed industry.

The figures are all the more shocking when you delve a bit deeper and see that the Council only began operating two of the sunbeds, at its Plas Madoc leisure and activity centre just last month.

Leaders on Wrexham Council have shown a blatant and reckless disregard for the health and well-being of the people they represent. They may well be making a lucrative profit from sunbeds, but you cannot put a price on good health. I’d go so far as to say that the Council’s conduct is unforgivably irresponsible.

The Council has told us that it is planning to remove all sunbeds by April next year, so why then have two more installed in the last few weeks? Such a move can only be put down to a last ditch attempt to make more money, putting profit before health.

The BMA’s recent criticism of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, who made an £15,000 annual profit from the five sunbeds it operated, led to that authority removing sunbeds from its leisure centres across the county. Since then we’ve pledged to continue in our fight to get Wrexham and Flintshire Councils, the last two in Wales to operate sunbeds, to remove them.

I don’t think the BMA is alone in believing that as a locally elected government Wrexham Council has an obligation to protect the health and welfare of local people. By ignoring the well-known and accepted scientific and medical evidence on the dangers of sunbed use, Wrexham Council has wilfully reneged on this duty of care.

Just one session a month on a sunbed doubles the average individual's annual dose of UV radiation and this is proven to greatly increase the risk of cancer, skin and eye problems in later life.

In 2009, there is no excuse for sunbeds to be operated by Local Authorities, especially in leisure centres which should be places of recreation, exercise and well-being. There is also no excuse for the current lax regulation of the commercial sunbed industry across the UK generally. When the BMA gives evidence to the National Assembly’s Health Committee inquiry in two day time, we’ll be highlighting all these issues.

NOTES –

WREXHAM COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL SUNBED ANALYSIS

FACILITY/LOCATION
Wrexham Waterworld
NUMBER OF BEDS SINCE 2002 - 2
NUMBER OF BEDS SINCE 2008 - 1
CHARGES - £3.20
MONITORING/BOOKING INCOME £
Maximum 20 sessions per year
04/05 - £7,765
05/06 - £5,909
06/07 - £4,772
07/08 - £5,168
08/09 - £3,590

FACILITY/LOCATION
Queensway Stadium
NUMBER OF BEDS SINCE 1996 - 2
CHARGES - £3.20
MONITORING/BOOKING INCOME £
Maximum 20 sessions per year
04/05 - £9,205
05/06 - £6,311
06/07 - £3,530
07/08 - £2,987
08/09 - £2,648

FACILITY/LOCATION
Plas Madoc
NUMBER OF BEDS SINCE 1990 - 3
NUMBER OF BEDS SINCE - August 2009
CHARGES - £2.50
MONITORING/BOOKING INCOME £
Maximum 20 sessions per year
05/06 - £6,702
06/07 - £11,091
07/08 - £8,764
08/09 - £5,190

ALL sunbeds will be removed by 1st April 2010.

ALL income generated would be offset against the departments deficit incurred in operating the Sports and Physical Activity service.

Action after inquiry needed on stroke services in Wales

BMA representatives have given evidence this morning to the Assembly’s Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee inquiry into Stroke Services in Wales. Several other groups with an interest in this area have also given evidence, along similar lines to ours, so here’s hoping the committee listens and acts on the recommendations of the majority.

A stroke can be devastating condition and is the third most common cause of death in the UK; 11,000 people have a stroke in Wales each year.

Strokes leave one third of patients permanently dependent on the help of others and is the biggest cause of severe acquired disability in the UK.

The treatment and management of stroke is now supported by a good body of quality evidence and we have witnessed a number of medical advances in recent years. As a result acute stroke is increasingly becoming a treatable condition.

That’s one of the reasons why BMA Cymru Wales welcomes the Welsh Assembly Government’s decision to make improving stroke services a priority - as a result the last few years have seen improvement in stroke care across Wales. However so far, this has not gone far enough. In almost every area of stroke care Wales lags behind that of England and Northern Ireland. There are pockets of good practice but the patchy provision of services across the country indicates that much more needs to be done.

If we are to see real improvement in the treatment and services available to stroke patients across Wales, the WAG needs to take act on the points listed below;

• A Wales-wide doctor recruitment and retention strategy, with an emphasis on specialist stroke physicians and neurologists.

• Everyone in Wales should have access to a stroke unit within 30 minutes travelling time of their home and the units should;
* Offer round-the-clock care with access to thrombolysis and scanning equipment
* Be adequately staffed (doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, dieticians, psychologists, social workers)
* Have adequate bed capacity
* Have strong links with rehabilitation and support services

• The new LHBs should:
* Make it someone’s responsibility to lead the team and champion the improvements within their areas and offer local solutions;
* Greatly increase the number of whole time equivalent medical hours allocated to stroke treatment and management;
* Work closely with local authorities and others to create multi-disciplinary care partnerships ensuring joined up working and continuous care provision;
* Interpret national guidance into effective local delivery by considering what is best to meet the challenges of that particular area. In this way national guidance should be broad and flexible;
* Facilitate research and data gathering through, for example, local clinical research networks - working with other LHBs to take a Wales-wide view of stroke services;
* Utilise the new Professional Forums and Stakeholder Reference Group as a mechanism to highlight stroke issues.
* Facilitate public awareness and education campaigns.

• Given the importance in receiving treatment immediately after a stroke, people should be directed straight to hospital, ambulance staff should be specially trained in the early treatment of stroke victims, and information should be sent to GPs to support direct referral.

• A national public awareness campaign is needed to highlight the prevalence and severity of stroke, how to recognise the symptoms, and that it requires a 999 response. The FAST (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) campaign did some good work in relation to this but needs to be built on – for example, the ways to recognise transient ischaemic attacks (TIA), the risk factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, excess alcohol intake and recreational drug use should also be highlighted. Many people still do not realise that strokes are preventable, do not know the symptoms or risk factors, or how to manage them.

• A training programme should be developed for stroke treatment across the multi- disciplinary teams working within the primary and secondary care sector to ensure efficiency and confidence when treating or managing stroke. Training should also be extended to carers.

• The long-term impact of stroke on families and carers needs to be looked at and their views sought.

• Current policy on Stroke - the National Service Framework for Older People, the Stroke Improvement Programme and the Stroke Pathway – are useful but we also support the development of a Stroke Strategy for Wales accompanied by a solid and achievable Action Plan.

New fee scale for dispensing doctors

The BMA’s General Practitioners Committee (GPC) and NHS Employers have agreed a new fee scale for dispensing doctors, which will come into effect next week, 1st October 2009.

The fee scale for dispensing doctors will be lowered by 8.7 per cent for the remaining six months of the financial year, representing a 4.9 per cent decrease across the whole year.

And, as of 1st April 2010, there will be an increase to produce a figure that is appropriate for the full new financial year.

Understandably this has left GPC disappointed. Many patients in rural areas rely on dispensing practices to obtain their medicine and the BMA’s very concerned that NHS Employers have underestimated the costs of providing dispensing services, which inevitably rise with increasing volume.

The ‘cost of service inquiry’ should help develop a fairer cost analysis and reimbursement structure in future, but the government needs to act urgently to deal with the unilateral withdrawal of discounts by many of the drug wholesalers, which could threaten the viability of some dispensing practices.

Surgeons’ overtime bill highlights more deep-rooted problems within the Welsh NHS

The front page of the Western Mail today highlights an issue that has been of concern to BMA Cymru Wales for some time - the need to adequately staff the Welsh NHS.

The over-reliance on overtime and private hospitals to try and ensure waiting time targets are met, is merely using a sticking plaster to patch up what is a much more serious problem. There has been insufficient investment in the NHS in Wales over the last few years, with the default position becoming one of buying additional capacity through short-term schemes. Surgeons do not work on their own, they’re part of a team, including anaesthetists, nursing and other clinical staff. Extra resources are therefore needed to manage these issues long-term, with the employment of more surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses.

NHS staff are being pushed to the limit to deliver the 26-week access targets by December, set by the Welsh Assembly Government. Added to this is the impact of the European Working Time Directive, introduced in August, with many doctors being encouraged to work above the 48-hour limit set by this legislation.

It may not be what either politicians or patients want to hear, but if the current financial pressures do not allow for the NHS in Wales to be better resourced, then maybe it’s time for the WAG to scrap targets, as without extra resources, quality of care will undoubtedly suffer, which certainly isn’t in the best interests of patients or doctors.