Senedd members pile pressure on Health Board ahead of Welshpool hospital decision

Eight members of the Senedd who represent Powys are demanding that Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) rethinks its plans to decimate services at Welshpool Hospital and others across the county ahead of their crucial decision on Wednesday.

In an open letter to Carl Hooper, Chair of PTHB, the Plaid Cymru members said they are “particularly concerned about the cumulative effects on rural communities” with Welshpool alone set to lose its beds, X-Ray facility and Minor Injuries Unit.

But the letter excludes the name of Mabon ap Gwynfor MS who is the Welsh Government’s Minister for Health and Care and also a Plaid Cymru representative for our area.

PTHB faces tough budget decisions and is moving towards centralising services at a new medical hub in Newtown, placing the future of Welshpool Hospital and others like Llanidloes and Machynlleth in severe doubt.

There was outrage following last week’s release of the papers for Wednesday’s meeting that included the recommendations, and now Plaid Cymru’s representatives could be particularly key given that they are the party with the most sway at the Senedd.

Rival parties have been calling on Mr ap Gwynfor to intervene and boost PTHB’s budget, so his name being excluded from the list of local Plaid Cymru representatives on the letter could be down a conflict of interests in the matter.

But his colleagues have made their opinions clear, and have called for the consultation process to be paused, writing: “A consultation can only be meaningful if consultees receive sufficient information about realistic alternatives and can influence the fundamental choices - not simply comment on the consequences of a predetermined direction of travel.

“A revised process is urgently needed to ensure that the future of health services in Powys is shaped with communities rather than imposed upon them.”

They have requested that PTHB does the following:

·      Develops and publishes a wider and genuinely meaningful range of options, including alternatives that retain, enhance or redesign locally accessible provision, rather than treating centralisation as the common outcome.

·      Publishes locality-level specifications for the proposed community, primary-care, urgent-care, diagnostic, rehabilitation, reablement, Hospital at Home, mental-health and patient-transport arrangements that would replace any service proposed for removal or transfer.

·      Includes clear locality-specific information for Ystradgynlais, Welshpool, Llanidloes, Knighton, Bronllys and other affected communities, including the effect on current hospital functions, future access arrangements, travel implications and proposed replacement provision.

·      Sets out a clear, costed and funded implementation programme, including workforce numbers and recruitment plans, estate requirements, diagnostic capacity, digital capability, social-care dependencies, risk mitigations and a realistic timetable.

·      Establishes transparent, measurable and independently assured readiness criteria that must be met before any inpatient beds, MIU services, diagnostic services or other local provision are reduced or withdrawn.

·      Publishes robust locality-level travel, equality, Welsh-language, socio-economic and community impact assessments, including the practical effects on patients, visitors, unpaid carers and staff without access to private transport.

The letter has been signed off by the following Plaid Cymru elected representatives in Powys: Elwyn Vaughan MS, Beca Brown MS, Becca Phillips MS, Cllr Gary Mitchell, Cllr Alwyn Evans, Cllr Rwth Hughes, Cllr Bryn Davies, Cllr Justin Horell.