§ Mr. John SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will announce his decisions on the amended proposals to reconfigure NHS trusts in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. [76399]
§ Mr. MichaelI have today announced my decision to establish the University Hospital of Wales and Llandough NHS Trust and the Cardiff and District Community NHS Trust to become operational on 1 April 1999. This decision follows public consultation which ended on 28 January, and supports my vision for the NHS in Wales made in my statement to the House on 3 December 1998,Official Report, columns 1053–66. The establishment of these two trusts is a first step towards creating a single integrated health service for Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan with acute, community and mental health services delivered through a single trust. In order to bring as much certainty as possible to the process so that staff in the new trusts know exactly where they stand, a further public consultation will start in July on the details of the process of forming the single trust and on the timing, which it is hoped will be sooner rather than later.
A copy of the press release detailing my announcement, along with a summary of all responses received by the Welsh Office on this matter during the consultation period, a copy of the report of the reconfiguration project 248W team on local consultation and a copy of the report of independent consultants who were commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the consultation proposals, has been placed in the Library of the House.
Following the transfer of functions, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.