How voters can save Withybush

When Withybush hospital was first seriously threatened, in the run-up to the 2007 Welsh Assembly election, I spoke about little else. I was standing as Plaid Cymru’s candidate in Preseli and would always get a hearing when I raised the issue on the doorstep. Everyone I spoke with agreed that it was vital to maintain essential services close at hand. Some had stories about relatives who had relied on being able to get to Withybush in an emergency. Others had first hand experience of traversing clogged-up country roads to Haverfordwest in a hurry, often in the dark and in bad weather, and dreaded the thought of having to go as far as Carmarthen. However, the main reaction was fatalism. ‘There’s nothing much we can do about it,” I was told. “They’ve made the decision already. The consultation is a sham.”

I pleaded that votes in the election would count. What was happening was the result of political choices made in Cardiff Bay. If faced with a determined stand by the electorate the Labour government there could be made to change course. Fortunately, enough people took this to heart to have a significant impact on the election. I did not win but Plaid Cymru’s campaign – I stood as the ‘Save Withybush’ candidate - made the downgrading of the hospital the central issue. The result was that Labour lost the two Pembrokeshire seats, Preseli and Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire.

Not only that, Plaid’s vote in Preseli was considerably higher than expected, enough to gain us an additional seat on the regional list in Mid and West Wales. These changes tipped the balance in Cardiff Bay. Labour lost its majority and was forced into coalition talks with the other parties. Eventually the ‘One Wales’ coalition government between Labour and Plaid Cymru emerged. A central part of the deal was a moratorium on the downgrading of district general hospitals across rural Wales. Withybush was saved.

But nothing, as they say, is for ever. At the next Assembly election in 2011 Labour got back into government on its own and soon began drawing up plans to reduce service provision in outlying hospitals. Last year Withybush lost its special care baby unity and some paediatric services. Now 24-hour A&E cover is being chipped away, pending the recruitment of more doctors. Chair of the Save Withybush campaign Dr Chris Overton says this is the consequence of five years running the hospital into the ground. “The latest efforts to resolve the situation are no more than a sop, intended to kick the issue into the long grass, until next May’s Welsh Assembly elections,” he told the Herald last week.

I will be standing again in those elections for Plaid Cymru. At a meeting of the party’s ruling National Council in Aberystwyth a few weeks ago the Preseli constituency pushed through a motion committing us to provide 24-hour A&E cover, including consultant-led maternity services, in every part of Wales. Once again I shall be arguing that votes for us in Preseli can make a difference. What we did in 2007 we can do again in 2016. If we get enough support we can demand that a new government in Cardiff Bay changes course on Withybush.