Significant temporary service restrictions will be put in place at Royal Glamorgan Hospital from 14.00 Wednesday September 30^th as increased action is taken to contain a COVID-19 outbreak within the hospital.

Significant temporary service restrictions will be put in place at Royal Glamorgan Hospital from 14.00 Wednesday September 30^th as increased action is taken to contain a COVID-19 outbreak within the hospital.

Teams have been working at pace to implement robust measures to manage the outbreak, however additional cases linked to transmission within the hospital have been confirmed in recent days with the number of cases currently standing at 82.

Given the extent of this outbreak, and on advice of Public Health Wales, the Health Board is taking a number of urgent and significant actions to ensure the safety of our staff, patients and communities.

These actions, which will be put in place as of 14:00 on Wednesday September 30th, include:

• The temporary suspension of planned surgery at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital (with the exception of a very small number of urgent cancer cases which have been clinically prioritised);
• Any adult patient requiring an emergency admission following assessment who would normally be admitted to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital will be taken to either Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, or the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff;
• The Emergency Department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital will remain open for walk-in patients and those who can be treated in ambulatory care department (i.e. an area in the Emergency Department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital);
• Welsh Ambulance Service (999) patients (excluding children) will be diverted temporarily to alternative sites, namely Princess of Wales Hospital Bridgend, Prince Charles Hospital Merthyr Tydfil and University Hospital of Wales Cardiff;
• There will be no change to the self-contained paediatric wards at Royal Glamorgan Hospital, they will remain open;
• The Tirion Birthing Centre, which has been temporarily closed during the pandemic, is due to re-open on October 5^th . We are currently working with the clinical teams to review that this can go ahead in light of the current situation at Royal Glamorgan Hospital;
• We are working closely with Public Health Wales to increase the capacity and speed of testing and results for both patients and staff.