Lib Dems hit back at Reform’s “naïve” backing for the health board over hospital beds threat

The Liberal Democrats have hit back to Reform UK calling them naïve for 'swallowing' Powys Teaching Health Board's assurances that no decisions have been made on the threat of hospital bed closures.

The comments came after James Evans MS, Reform UK Shadow Minister for Health, Iain McIntosh MS and David Mills MS met senior representatives of Powys Teaching Health Board on Wednesday, August 26 to discuss the future of healthcare services across the county.

The meeting included a detailed briefing on the Health Board’s financial position and its Better Together transformation programme.

The health board outlined its ambition to strengthen community services and provide more appropriate care in people’s homes, helping to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and lengthy stays. It stressed that any changes would need to be introduced gradually, with suitable community services in place first.

Crucially, Reform UK said PTHB made it clear that no final proposals or decisions have yet been agreed and that formal public consultations have not even begun.

The health board is due to consider a pre-consultation business case on September 16. Only if that is approved will detailed options proceed to public consultation, with no final decisions expected before spring 2027.

Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe David Chadwick and Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd Senedd Member Jane Dodds said: “Reform are being extraordinarily naive if they genuinely believe that, after months of work on these plans, the Health Board does not already have a preferred direction of travel simply because the formal consultation has not started.

“Rather than standing with communities fighting to protect their local hospitals, Reform appear to have swallowed the Health Board’s assurances wholesale without any critical thinking and are now attacking the people raising the alarm. They should be challenging these plans, not acting as the Health Board’s cheerleaders.

“The Liberal Democrats are not alone in our concerns. Every single GP practice in Powys has written to the Health Board expressing concerns about the direction of these proposals. Are Reform seriously suggesting that every GP practice in Powys is wrong too?

“That is not even to mention the over 7,000 people who have signed our petition and over 1,200 local residents who turned up at public meetings in Ystradgynlais, Builth Wells, Llanidloes and Welshpool this week where medical staff at our hospitals spoke passionately about what the proposals could mean for our community hospitals.

“And Reform are deliberately dodging the central issue. We have never said the Health Board is proposing to immediately close hospital buildings; our petition is explicitly about the threat to remove social care / step-down beds.

“But we are also clear, there is a threat of closure by stealth in the long term.

“We have seen this playbook before: beds and services are gradually stripped out of community hospitals until politicians and health bosses eventually turn around and declare what remains financially unviable. What use is calling somewhere a hospital if you have removed its beds and stripped away the services local people depend on?

“Reform may wish to defend the health board and wait until it's too late to say something, but the Welsh Liberal Democrats will not sit quietly and wait until the damage is done. We will stand with our communities, with local GPs and with patients to fight the removal of beds and services from our community hospitals.”

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have also accused Reform of making inaccurate claims about Jane Dodds’ record. Jane did not support the Welsh Government’s last budget.

In 2025, she abstained after securing more than £100 million in additional funding, including millions of pounds of investment for Powys that would otherwise not have been delivered.

This included restoring cut services on the Heart of Wales Line in South Powys, additional funding for road repairs, capital projects and public toilets across the county, a one-pound bus fare for all young people in Powys and £30 million for social care, which helped cut delayed discharges in Powys by a third.

By contrast, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have highlighted that in his five years as a Senedd Member, James Evans has failed to deliver a single extra pound of investment or a single tangible benefit for Powys.

Jane Dodds also refused to back the most recent Welsh Government budget over concerns about the lack of funding for Powys health care.