During the Senedd debate on Withybush General Hospital Welsh Liberal Democrat Member for Mid & West Wales Jane Dodds said:
“Many of the people who have contacted me in recent months about the proposals fully accept the need for change, they understand that meeting the geography, sparsity of services, the profile of the residents, and the seasonal churn in population does require a change in approach.
“People are really concerned though about the distance between residents in the west of Pembrokeshire and new services, and transition to the new arrangements.
“As an absolute minimum residents need certainty and a commitment that the Emergency Care Centre at Withybush will not be downgraded until the planned new hospital is fully functional and has been tried and tested, that the new integrated health and well-being centres are fully functioning.
“I am concerned about the figures relating to ambulance response and travel times. Analysis undertaken by the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust identified that by placing a new hospital in the identified location: 98% of 999 calls would be able to reach the hospital within an hour.
“Ambulance response times have repeatedly made headlines for all the wrong reasons, so it’s understandable that residents have concerns about the distance for patients to the new hospital and A
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