Powys Health Board does not expect site closures as part of transformation proposals

Powys Teaching Health Board has made it clear that no decisions have been made on future health care in the county at a meeting with politicians.

PTHB representatives said they do not currently expect any of the options to include the closure of hospital sites.

They also confirmed that Powys would continue to have community hospital beds and that there was no plan to withdraw care entirely from Powys.

Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd Senedd Member and Reform UK Shadow Minister for Health, James Evans, and Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd Senedd Members Iain McIntosh and David Mills 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.

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.

Despite public statements and a petition promoted by the Liberal Democrats, PTHB representatives said they do not currently expect any of the options to include the closure of hospital sites.

They also confirmed that Powys would continue to have community hospital beds and that there was no plan to withdraw care entirely from Powys.

The precise functions of individual hospitals and the balance between inpatient, outpatient, ambulatory and community care may form part of the consultation. However, the Health Board was clear that speculation about agreed hospital site closures is inaccurate.

James Evans MS, Reform UK Shadow Minister for Health, Iain McIntosh MS and David Mills MS said: “We welcomed the opportunity to hear directly from Powys Teaching Health Board rather than relying upon the speculation and political campaigning surrounding these proposals.

“We are all deeply concerned about any proposal that could result in Powys losing hospital beds or seeing our already stretched local health services reduced further. We will examine any detailed proposals very carefully and will not hesitate to challenge changes that we believe would leave residents with a poorer or less accessible service.

“However, the Health Board made it very clear that nothing has yet been agreed. Its consultation has not even started and, importantly, its current expectation is that hospital site closures will not form part of the options.

“People understandably become extremely worried when they are told that their local hospital site could close. Politicians therefore have a responsibility to be accurate about what is actually being considered and honest about the decisions that have contributed to the financial pressures facing our NHS.

“What we find particularly concerning is that the Liberal Democrats have created a petition on their own website asking residents to help stop the closure of a hospital site when the Health Board has made no such proposal and does not currently expect site closures to feature in the options.

“A petition would normally be launched in response to a genuine proposal. In this case, the Liberal Democrats appear to have published the threat and then invited understandably worried residents to join their campaign against it.

“That risks causing completely unnecessary fear among patients, hospital staff and families, particularly elderly and vulnerable people who depend upon these services. It also risks undermining public confidence in the Health Board’s consultation before it has even begun.

“That is why we regard this as more than ordinary political opportunism. Frightening people into believing that their local hospital site is about to close, without evidence that such a closure is even being considered, is a deeply cynical and questionable way to win political support.

“It is made even worse by the fact that the Liberal Democrats supported the previous Welsh Government budget. As that financial settlement is contributing to the pressures now facing our health services, they cannot simply wash their hands of it and campaign locally as though they had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

“The people of Powys deserve properly funded healthcare, but they also deserve politicians who are straight with them about the decisions they make in Cardiff Bay.

“Powys has an older and widely dispersed population, covers an enormous rural area and remains the only Welsh county without a district general hospital. Residents already face lengthy journeys for treatment, while local services and staff are under considerable pressure. Those realities must be properly reflected in the funding Powys receives.

“Reform UK will continue campaigning for different Welsh Government spending priorities, putting frontline services such as the NHS ahead of political projects, unnecessary bureaucracy and waste. Protecting core services must be treated as a genuine priority, not simply talked about after budgets have been passed.

“We will also continue working constructively with Powys Teaching Health Board and the other health boards serving Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd. We will scrutinise the proposals, listen to residents and healthcare professionals, and fight to protect the accessible, properly funded services our communities need and deserve.”