It’s remarkable how newspapers tend to modify their perspective whenever an A-list celeb looms on the horizon. The South Wales Evening Post proves itself no exception in today’s gushing editorial which lauds “Swansea’s own Catherine Zeta Jones” for making an appearance at the Children’s Hospital for Wales this week.
Memories may be slightly faded now, but the facts are that initial fundraising attempts for ‘a children’s hospital for Wales’ received a very lukewarm reception outside the capital – primarily because most people suspected that the agenda was a national campaign to fund a children’s hospital for Cardiff.
At the time, there was no louder, self-proclaimed sceptic than the Beans on Toast itself.
For many in south west Wales, the subsequent loss of children’s neurosurgery and other paediatric services was evidence that their fears were well founded but by then the bandwagon had already rolled over any remaining opposition.
The Noah’s Ark appeal has been equally skilful in projecting its cause as it has in lobbying the ministers to finance a second phase at the Heath. The charity works hand in pocket with agents eager to ensure a line-up of sporting & showbiz dazzle that rubs off on the politicians. It can be a tricky business, especially when squabbles break out within the same party over national versus regional priorities – although there was that brief outbreak of consensus to condemn Labour minister Brian Gibbons for conjuring up a £2m match-funding package for the hospital just a few days before the 2007 Assembly elections.
A few months later, the Cardiff LHB decided against putting up its £1.1m share of expected annual running costs, stating that the board was unconvinced the proposal “would meet the future needs of medical care for children, particularly the provision for outpatients and for care once youngsters are fit to be discharged”,
But such inconvenient contradictions somehow tend to evaporate and, true to form, Carwyn announced at the beginning of this month that WAG would be stumping up for the overdue second phase. (Of course, that was before he set off to tell the rest of the NHS in Wales that tougher times were a-coming).
One of the pearls given to CZJ by her publicists is the quote “It's hard to believe there was never a designated children's hospital in our country”. A lot of people here could probably say the same thing - albeit from a slightly different perspective.
1 Comments:
Absolutely right. It's sad to see Dai Jones's girl starring for the 'Everything in Cardiff' show and just as sad to see such short memories in Swansea.
For children's hospital read neurosurgery and countless other instances where devolution has benefitted Cardiff over Swansea. As the only possible challenger to Cardiff's position within Wales Swansea must lose out more than other parts.
This was just annoying in the past when, for example, Glamorgan County Cricket Club abandoned St. Helen's to became Cardiff City Cricket Club. But the writing was on the wall when Ron Davies was forced to reject the only site that met his own stated criteria - Swansea Guildhall - and decide to locate the Assembly in Cardiff . . . which didn't even have a site!
Since then it has been downhill all the way. To the extent that those wanting to locate everything in 'the capital' are quite prepared to put lives at risk by abandoning Swansea's central position in southern Wales to serve the agendas of those who care only for Cardiff.
I see no way of changing this with the four parties we have at present. They have all bought into the Greater Cardiff project. Is it too late to launch a Swansea Bay Party to contest next year's Assembly elections?
Even if no seats were won its very existence - and support from other neglected parts of Wales - would be priceless and frighten the hell out of the existing, Cardiff-centric parties.
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