Local Assembly Member Paul Davies held a short debate on health services in Pembrokeshire recently. Mr Davies focused his debate on issues such as the reduction of services at Withybush Hospital.

Paul Davies said "I was delighted to bring this very important debate to the Chamber and highlight the shortfalls in health care that the people of Pembrokeshire face."

"There have been accusations of scaremongering for daring to raise concerns around the reduction of services at Withybush Hospital. Clearly, it is not scaremongering when the facts are staring us in the face – orthodontic services have been transferred from Withybush hospital to Swansea and, even more recently, post mortem services have been transferred to Glangwili hospital."

"I fully recognize that delivering health services in rural areas such as the one that I represent is very challenging. The major challenge is that of people having to travel long distances to attend their nearest hospital. This is made even more complicated because of the lack of regular public transport which adds to the cost and time to access healthcare. I am given to understand that distance plays a huge part in delayed diagnosis of certain chronic conditions. If distance has a knock on effect by decreasing survival rates then it is even more important that services at hospitals such as Withybush are retained."

"Representations are continuously being made to me over health care issues in Pembrokeshire, for example, a woman who suffered a bleed in the head in July of this year waited 17 weeks before receiving an MRI scan after initially being told that she would receive a referral within three weeks on the NHS."

"After explaining how cases like this are a reality for many people living in Pembrokeshire, I urged the Health Minister to give local health services in Pembrokeshire the support they deserve. Reassurances that Withybush Hospital will continue to be a district general hospital must be made. It is essential that its services are retained and that the drive for centralisation is stopped as it is not in the interests of the people that I represent."