Senedd petition for intervention in health board Withybush decision tops 4,200 sigantures

A petition calling for “immediate intervention” on health board-backed changes to emergency general surgery provision at Pembrokeshire’s Withybush hospital has already attracted more than 4,000 signatures.

Last year, Hywel Dda University Health Board consulted with its communities on options for change in critical care, dermatology, emergency general surgery, endoscopy, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, stroke, radiology and urology.

It said its Clinical Services Plan focuses on nine healthcare services that are “fragile and in need of change”.

The proposed changes included an option for Withybush patients needing specialist critical care being transferred to Glangwili.

At a recent two-day meeting, the board, amongst its many other decisions, backed changes into emergency general surgery which will see no emergency general surgery operations taking place at Withybush, but a strengthening of the same-day emergency care (SDEC).

Members stressed the changes would not happen overnight.

Since then, a petition to the Senedd has been created by Crymych resident Ajay Owen, entitled Urgent Pembrokeshire Healthcare & Resident Safety – Withybush Hospital & Health Board Intervention.

It has already attracted more than 4,200 signatures.

The petition, which runs until August 23, says: “We demand immediate government intervention to oversee the Health Board at Withybush Hospital and restore essential services to ensure the safety and wellbeing of Pembrokeshire residents. The residents, GPs, ambulance services and voluntary sectors do not need the strain or anxiety the health board is causing locally.

“As members of a community safety organisation and residents of Pembrokeshire, we are formally declaring that the current state of healthcare at Withybush Hospital is a threat to public safety.

“For too long, our services have been centralised, downgraded, or left in a state of uncertainty. This is no longer just an administrative issue; it is a safety crisis. Every minute added to an ambulance journey and every service removed from our local hospital increases the risk to life.

“We are calling on the First Minister and the Welsh Government to intervene directly, guarantee core services, equalise care standards and bring services back to Pembrokeshire.

“The people of Pembrokeshire deserve a healthcare system that provides security, not anxiety. The Welsh Government needs to implement the changes necessary to restore a safe, functional, and reliable service at Withybush Hospital immediately.”

All petitions with more than 250 signatures will be discussed by the Petitions Committee after they have finished collecting signatures; at 10,000 petitions are considered for a debate in the Senedd.

A broadly similar petition ‘You’re either With the Bush or against the Bush,’ which said: “We need to reinstate services once again for the safety of our county,” was rejected on the grounds there was already a similar petition registered.

Calls to intervention have also been made by local Senedd members Paul Davies and Sam Kurtz, who have written to the Cabinet Secretary for Health & Social Care to urge him to intervene and stop the Health Board removing services from Withybush.

Paul Davies MS said: “The Welsh Government must intervene. Our communities deserve safe, fair access to vital services.”