Powys hospital beds could be slashed under proposals to centralise health services across the area

Hospital beds in Powys could be cut from the current 146 to as few as 60 under major NHS proposals.

Papers from Powys Teaching Health Board propose reducing physical-health inpatient provision from the current 146 beds across eight community hospitals to either three sites – Brecon, Llandrindod Wells and Newtown – or just two sites – Brecon and Newtown – potentially reducing the number of beds in the entire county to as little as 60.

The papers, which were released on Wednesday, show two separate proposals.

One is for a reduction in beds to two sites in Newtown and Brecon, cutting bed numbers from 146 to 60.

The other would also keep beds in Llandrindod Wells, reducing the number overall to 90.

The proposals say services would remain at all community hospital sites in Powys, but argue that investment in care closer to home would reduce the need for inpatient beds.

Under both options, inpatient beds would be removed from Ystradgynlais, Welshpool, Llanidloes, Machynlleth and Bronllys.

The proposals also envisage concentrating urgent care at only Brecon and Newtown, with Llandrindod Wells retaining a Minor Illness and Injury Unit under only one of the two options.

The existing MIUs at Ystradgynlais and Welshpool would close, while X-ray services at Ystradgynlais, Welshpool and Machynlleth would also be removed.

The Health Board is also proposing to consolidate adult and older adult inpatient mental-health services onto a single site in the Bronllys/Brecon area, resulting in the loss of existing mental-health inpatient provision at Llandrindod Wells and Ystradgynlais.

Welsh Liberal Democrats David Chadwick MP and Jane Dodds MS have accused Powys Teaching Health Board of “hoodwinking” residents after new papers revealed sweeping proposals to centralise hospital services across the county.

The Liberal Democrats have criticised the consultation process as a sham after the papers revealed that the Health Board considered a much wider range of configurations before limiting the options on which residents will formally be consulted.

The party has said the proposals confirm what it has feared throughout the process: that the Health Board had already settled on a predetermined direction of travel towards fewer beds, fewer inpatient sites and greater centralisation.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have now called on the Plaid Cymru Welsh Government to intervene immediately, arguing that the options now being presented do not offer communities a meaningful choice over the future of their hospitals.

They have stated that the documents also show exactly why Reform were wrong to attack those who were already campaigning against the threat of cuts, stating that it was naive to trust the Health Board and think they were not going down this route.

David Chadwick, Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, said: “People across Powys were promised that they would have a genuine say over the future of their hospitals. Instead, they are being presented with a choice between two different versions of sweeping cuts.

“Before a single resident has responded to the formal consultation, most options have already been taken off the table. Keeping our existing network of community hospital beds isn't even being offered as a choice. How can anyone reasonably describe that as a genuinely open consultation?

“People will understandably feel they have been hoodwinked.

“For places like Ystradgynlais, the scale of what is being proposed is staggering. The hospital stands to lose its inpatient beds, its Minor Injury Unit, its X-ray service and its mental-health inpatient beds.

“We will not stand for the hollowing out of our community hospitals. We are gearing up our campaign across Powys and will fight tooth and nail to protect the local services our communities depend on.”

Jane Dodds, Welsh Liberal Democrat Senedd Member for Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, said: “This is a shocking betrayal of the trust of communities across Powys.

“The Plaid Cymru Welsh Government cannot wash its hands of this. These proposals are being brought forward in a Welsh NHS that the Welsh Government is responsible for funding and overseeing, and the Health Minister needs to intervene now.

“I have repeatedly warned Ministers that rural healthcare cannot simply be treated as though Powys were an urban area where another hospital is ten minutes down the road. Removing beds and centralising services inevitably means much longer journeys for some of the oldest and most vulnerable people in Wales.

“If the Welsh Government genuinely believes in protecting rural healthcare, it needs to prove it. That means giving Powys the funding it needs and telling the Health Board to go back to the drawing board with options that actually protect community hospital provision.

“The people of Powys deserve a real choice over the future of their NHS, not a sham consultation where some of the most important options have been discarded before they are even asked.”

Welshpool County Councillor Graham Breeze described the news about the proposals as his darkest day since being elected.

He said: “Devastating news released today about the future of Welshpool Hospital. Our concern about loss of beds in the leaked PTHB proposals is even worse.

“A document published on the PTHB website shows the plans also contain the closure of the minor injuries unit and the x-ray unit at Welshpool with relocation to Newtown when a new health hub is completed there.

“I'm not fully sure what that leaves at Welshpool but I will be meeting with PTHB alongside other Powys councillors today.

“This is my darkest day since being elected as a county councillor for Welshpool 10 years ago but I will continue to fight for our services as long as I am your representative.