Ystradgynlais’s fight to keep its hospital beds reached the First Minister on Tuesday, a day after Powys Teaching Health Board opened the consultation that would move them out of the town.
Jane Dodds, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Member of the Senedd for Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, told Rhun ap Iorwerth the board’s proposals “would leave communities like Ystradgynlais with a 23-mile journey to receive in-patient care”.
“In a large rural county with poor public transport, as you will know, that matters enormously to patients, families and carers,” she said at First Minister’s Questions.
She said 9,700 people had signed the Lib Dems’ petition against the plans, up from the 7,000 the party reported last month, “yet their voices are being brushed aside”.
“They are repeatedly told by your Government, and the health board, to simply wait for the consultation to finish. But the options on the table mean that significant reductions in in-patient care are already baked in, and that consultation only presents one option.”
Ms Dodds said ministers had told campaigners the Welsh Government could not act, but it had intervened elsewhere, with the fire and rescue services. The Llywydd, Huw Irranca-Davies, cut in to ask for a question. Hers: “What will your Government do in order to listen to the voices of people in a rural area like Powys and make sure that these proposals are stopped?”
“Inappropriate for me to comment”: the First Minister’s answer
Mr ap Iorwerth said he was “certainly hearing the concerns”, and that her argument “amplifies concerns that have been raised elsewhere”. He would not intervene.
“This is a decision for the health board, of course, and consultation has begun on proposed options for its clinical services plan,” he said. “Evidence can be seen. Views can be shared, experiences and concerns shared, alternative ideas put forward too.”
The Welsh Government, he said, “expects the health board to make evidence-based decisions, underpin those decisions on robust options appraisals and impact assessments, to ensure that the future of services are sustainable, fit for purpose and safe for the local population”.
“But, other than that, given that this is an ongoing process led by the health board, it would be inappropriate for me to comment more than that.”
What the consultation offers Ystradgynlais
The board’s Better Together consultation opened on Monday and runs to 10 January. Both of its options for physical health beds take Powys from 146 community hospital beds to 90 on three sites or 60 on two, and neither keeps any of the 20 at Ystradgynlais Community Hospital.
The town’s minor injuries unit and X-ray would move to an enhanced urgent care centre in Brecon under both options, and the mental health ward that served over-65s would be replaced by a single centre in the Bronllys and Brecon area.
The board says every hospital site stays open and “no outcome has been predetermined”. Its chair, Dr Carl Cooper, said as the consultation opened: “This is your NHS and your opportunity to influence its future.” A decision is not expected before spring 2027.
The campaign has run since the summer. More than 400 people packed a public meeting in the town in August, and the row drew in Reform UK, who accused the Lib Dems of frightening residents.
Responses can be made through the board’s Better Together hub, by email to powys.bettertogether@wales.nhs.uk or by post to Opinion Research Services, Freepost SS1018, PO Box 530, Swansea SA1 1ZL. The board is holding 13 drop-in events across the county and three online.
Related stories from Swansea Bay News
YSTRADGYNLAIS: Hospital would lose its beds, minor injuries unit and X-ray under every option in health board shake-up – What the Better Together papers propose for the town.
YSTRADGYNLAIS: Hundreds pack hospital beds meeting as crowd spills onto the street – The August meeting that filled the hall.
YSTRADGYNLAIS: Beds campaigners brand Reform ‘naive’ as hospital row deepens – How the hospital fight became a political row.
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