13/02/2014 BBC Wales Today

Hello, good evening. There is confusion tonight about the future

of health care in South Wales. After one of the health boards involved

refused to sign of plans for change. The proposals would see

services, including specialist maternity care, removed from the

Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant. Health boards have been

considering focusing services at five hospitals in the region, but

tonight, all of that is on hold. Here is our health correspondent,

Owain Clarke. Today was meant to be decision day,

a day when the map of hospital services in South Wales should have

been redrawn. A final plan was on the table, agreed by the senior

bosses of Fife health boards. Specialist care for mothers, babies

and children would be concentrated at five main hospitals between

Newport and Swansea, instead of eight, which meant those services

would be moved from the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.

At separate meetings today, four health boards backed the plans in

their entirety but not the health board that stood to lose the most.

We will be going back into the collaborative mode with our health

board colleagues, not in a position. We are not disagreeing

with colleague health boards here. We're all in agreement that the

direction of travel has to be about delivering services for the sickest

and most seriously injured in a better way. Members of Cwm Taf

Health Board did back the principle of centralising health services,

along with Royal Glamorgan being a Beacon Centre for the care of the

elderly. But instead of stripping services from the Royal Glamorgan

alone, they suggested an alternative plan, the Royal Glamorgan and

Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend should share services as a

starting point to delivering services on fewer hospital sites.

That option was not originally on the table. It is the latest setback

in a process that has already proved to be incredibly fraught. It started

in January 2012, when managers and medical professionals from five

health board started working together to draw up plans. There

were six preferred options for reorganisation which would see sites

become specialist centres and some care transferred from other

hospitals. Last year the six options were slimmed down to four and an

eight week public consultation was launched. A decision on the changes

was due in August but was delayed after more than 60,000 people gave

their views. In December, the decision was delayed again while

final details were ironed out. Tonight, there is confusion as to

what happens next. But why do services need to be centralised in

the first place? The argument as it leads to better care cost of the

children's intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Wales in

Cardiff serves all of Wales and by seeing a lot of patients doctors

argue their skills are kept up to scratch. If you're going to be a

doctor specialising in looking after a particular group of patients, you

need to do it lots and lots to get good at it and once you get good at

it you've got to continue doing it lots and lots. Their decision -- the

decision by Cwm Taf Health Board is likely to please many in the local

community who have argued the hospital is too important to be

downgraded. I had twins and they services. I lost one but one would

not be here today, but every second counts with special care babies. We

already have and balances waiting outside. I don't think they are

equipped as things stand to improve the situation -- we have ambulances

waiting outside. There will be more emergency cases coming in.

Discussions between the health boards are likely to have to

continue and the day the health map for South Wales was supposed to be

redrawn, patients arguably the seedling -- evening on the wiser. --

the patients are none the wiser. The health minister says he expects the

health boards to meet as soon as possible and Cwm Taf will not hold

up changes. More than 20,000 homes in Wales

remain without power tonight following yesterday's storm. There

has been something of a let up in the bad weather today and many of us

have started counting the cost, although the Met Office has warned

that more severe weather is on the way. Here is Roger Pinney.

What a difference a day makes after the storm, today, the relative calm

and a breathing space in all the bad weather to take stock. At Porthmadog

station, part of the roof was ripped off. It was carried high into the

air and dropped into a pub beer garden. It was just horrendous, just

like a tornado. The wind was getting worse all day and then about four

o'clock, tea-time, out between 3pm and 4pm yesterday

afternoon, but not for everyone. Since then, the power has been

returning, but slowly. Zoe Williams and her family spent a cold, dark

night. Now she is checking to see if the power is back. There is enough

for low voltage bulbs, but nothing else. When the power went off it

went extremely cold quite quickly, so the kids were complaining, Mum, I

am cold, I want socks on and extra blankets. But we coped. It was a

storm the like of which few of us can remember. In Aberdovey the winds

bought a sandstone -- a sandstorm. Caravans were bounced around like

toys. On Anglesey, a wind turbine burst into flames. As we stop to

count the cost, this is a chaplain corroded year and, so to the

politicians. In England, the Prime Minister has promised that money

will be no object. We have had bids for local councils in Wales for

funding from ourselves and we are examining it. The images of

yesterday's storm are unforgettable. Today, a respite, but there is more

bad weather on the way. The Welsh Conservative leader Andrew

RT Davies has said he hopes his Assembly Members will not be divided

after sacking four of his front bench for rebelling a vote on

devolving income tax. Mohammad Asghar, Nick Ramsay, Antoinette

Sandbach and Janet Finch-Saunders lost their positions after failing

to vote with the party. The group he took a view of this

after discussing it and voting on it. The line was clear. I bitterly

regret the four members were unable to support the line. They did not

vote again -- against, they just did not vote. Football, Cardiff City's

Chief Executive Simon Lim has blamed the previous manager Malky Mackay

and his team for an ?8.5 million loss on the purchase and sale of the

Danish player Andreas Cornelius. In response, issued by the League

Managers' Association, McCabe all transfer matters were reported to Mr

Lim first -- Malky Mackay said all transfer matters were reported to

list in first. A World War I letter from a soldier from Llanelli has

finally been read by his family, nearly 100 years after David John

Phillips pended from his Navy base in Scotland researchers have tracked

down his granddaughter. Signed, sealed, stamped, but never

posted. The letter written by a young sailor from Llanelli when he

was stationed in Orkney in 1916. It was found behind a fireplace and

handed into the local library last year, but as it was only signed,

your blue jacket boy, researchers needed help to find out more about

the author. We knew we would not have the resources to find the

information out so we put it on our blog and asked our followers to look

the information up for us. The answer was sailor David John

Phillips, known as Dai Phillips. He was posted in Kirkwall, serving on

HMS Daring clocks, before returning home to Llanelli after the war. A

distant relative in Canada spotted the appeal online and got in touch

with his family. Mary Hodge is his granddaughter. The library has sent

her e-mails with copies of the letter in and even though it is

nearly 100 years late, she is touched to finally read it. I was

extremely emotional because I was really close to them and you know,

even since they passed away in the 70s, there is not a day goes by when

I don't think of them. The letter still has one final journey to make,

but it is now too precious to be put in the post. Mary plans to collect

the letter from Orkney instead. So, heavy rain and snow or heading

our way. Let's get the full forecast from Benaz. The weather is not

looking to present for Valentine's Day. We have rain and snow in the

forecast. There is a yellow be aware warning for parts of the mid and

South Wales for rain. We could see flooding. Tonight, it is fairly

quiet, some showers and frosty patches, then by the early hours of

tomorrow the rain bands reaching parts of the stars. It is cold, so

we might see snow. Low pressure in charge of the weather. Heavy pulses

of rain and also a bit of snow. For the Heads of the Valleys first thing

tomorrow morning there could be problems with snow. There could be

five centimetres of snow possible. Elsewhere, more likely to be rain.

As we go through the rest of the UK, very strong winds across the

south coast. There is an amber warning, gusts of 80 miles an hour

as we go into tomorrow afternoon and night. Elsewhere, problems with

rain, the risk of flooding and warnings for the snow across parts

of Northern Ireland and for Scotland as well. Here in Wales tomorrow

afternoon the main rain band Will Claye behind it must showers and

they could be heavy. It will become milder through the day with highs of

7-11dC. The winds pick up tomorrow night, gale force winds possible but

nothing like we had yesterday, bringing some showers and then we

can look forward to another blustery day on Saturday. More showers but

becoming drier in time for Sunday. Thank you very much. Stay with us

throughout tomorrow for the latest on the snow, on TV, radio and

online. That is Wales Today. Thank you for watching. From all of us on

the programme, good evening.