RESPONDING to the proposals being revived by Powys Teaching Health Board, Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe David Chadwick said: “These plans should have been abandoned the first time they were proposed.
“It is utterly ridiculous that we are talking about deliberately extending the waiting times for patients rather than cutting them.
“People in Mid Wales are fed up with drawing the short straw when it comes to public services, and residents pay their taxes like everyone else.
“They don’t choose to use hospitals in Shropshire and Herefordshire – it’s something they are forced to do because we don’t have any major hospitals of our own in Powys.
“The Welsh Liberal Democrats will fight these proposals all the way and I will be raising it in Parliament at the earliest opportunity alongside Welsh Government Ministers.”
Adding her comments, Welsh Liberal Democrat Senedd Member for Mid & West Wales Jane Dodds said: “We are ultimately in this mess because the Welsh Labour Government has run down healthcare services in Wales to such a degree.
“Patients in Powys are now expected to wait longer because the Welsh Government is essentially saying Shropshire and Herefordshire are ‘too good’ at treating patients quickly and they cannot afford to match the quality of service.
“The Welsh Government needs to get to grips with tackling the long waiting lists in the rest of Wales, not forcing Powys to go down to the lowest denominator.”
