Template Letter to Mabon ap Gwynfor
You can email the Minister using this address: Correspondence.Mabon.apGwynfor@gov.wales
You can also copy us into your email using the following email addresses (this will help us keep track of how many people have written to the Minister): david.chadwick.mp@parliament.uk
TEMPLATE EMAIL:
Dear Mabon ap Gwynfor MS,
I am writing to ask you, as Health Minister, to intervene over Powys Teaching Health Board's plans for community hospitals.
I am deeply concerned not only about the proposed loss of inpatient beds and centralisation of services, but about the way these proposals have been developed and the potential consequences for patient safety.
Powys is one of the most rural parts of Wales. Travelling further for care is not a minor inconvenience, particularly for older and vulnerable patients, people without access to a car and families trying to visit loved ones.
*[OPTIONAL: Add a sentence here about which local hospital you rely on and why it matters to you or your family.]*
I am particularly concerned about proposals affecting Minor Injury Units and urgent care. Removing or centralising these services could leave residents travelling significantly further when they need treatment. I would like to know what assurances you have sought from the Health Board about the impact on patient safety.
There are also serious questions about whether the community and social-care services needed to support these changes are actually in place. Moving care out of hospitals cannot be considered safe simply on the assumption that sufficient care will be available elsewhere. If that capacity does not exist, vulnerable patients could be put at risk.
I am also extremely concerned about the governance and transparency of the consultation.
Both the Health Board and Welsh Government have stressed that no decisions have been made ahead of the public consultation and that no final decisions will be taken until it has concluded.
However, significant decisions *have already been taken about which options the public will be allowed to consider*.
A number of options were considered during the pre-consultation process and then removed before the proposals reached the public. Residents are now being asked to choose between two options, both involving major reductions in hospital provision and greater centralisation.
That is fundamentally different from presenting the public with the full range of choices and genuinely asking them what the future of healthcare in Powys should look like.
I therefore do not believe it is sufficient to say that “no decisions have been made”. Decisions have already been made about what is on the table and, crucially, what has been taken off it.
Questions have also been raised about how the Health Board has represented the level of public and staff involvement in developing these proposals. Given the scale of the changes, I would ask you to satisfy yourself that the process has been transparent, properly evidenced and compliant with all relevant statutory duties.
I am also concerned that the direction being taken appears to contradict the Welsh Government's stated ambitions for accessible healthcare and stronger rural public services. Plaid Cymru promised to recognise the additional cost of delivering public services in rural Wales through a rural premium. Powys should be exactly the sort of place that commitment protects.
Nearly 8,000 people have already signed the petition opposing these cuts, while hundreds of residents have attended public meetings across Powys. These concerns should not simply be noted and then ignored while the same proposals continue through the decision-making process.
I am therefore asking you, as Health Minister, to intervene directly and prevent these proposals from proceeding in their current form.
The serious concerns around patient safety, the lack of sufficient community and social-care capacity, the removal of key options before public consultation, and wider questions around governance and transparency cannot simply be left for the Health Board to address itself.
The Welsh Government must also provide Powys Teaching Health Board with the resources necessary to maintain safe and sustainable services in a rural area, rather than allowing financial pressures to drive further cuts and centralisation.
I look forward to your response.
Kind regards,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR ADDRESS]
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