Bronglais Hospital consultant medical staff letter

Below is the full letter from senior medical staff at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth to Hywel Dda Health Board's chief executive Trevor Purt:

We, the Consultant Medical Staff of Bronglais Hospital, write to express our deep disappointment with the proposed service.

Firstly, and sufficient of itself to demand a revised plan, is the health board's stated criterion that no one be more than 60 minutes from acute surgical or obstetric care. Whilst it is possible, in exceptional circumstances, to make the journey from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen within 60 minutes, anyone who undertakes it regularly will testify that the usual is significantly longer. Furthermore, it ignores the fact that a large part of Bronglais's catchment population live to the North and East of the town. The nearest alternative hospitals in any direction are at least two hours away.

Secondly, before the last election we were assured that the political will was very much in support of Bronglais Hospital not only continuing to provide all the existing services, but to expand into a Regional District Hospital for Rural Healthcare. Our situation, the nature of our work and our links with several Welsh universities make us ideally suited to be at the cutting edge of this discipline.

Prior to becoming part of Hywel Dda, this hospital was providing a high quality service, meeting targets (and indeed taking some of Carmarthen's work). Indeed we have provided elective paediatric surgery for Carmarthenshire. This does not give confidence that Carmarthen has spare capacity to provide a good service to patients who are about to be denied locally delivered care. We have also featured in the list of the best 40 hospitals in Britain.

At the clinical engagement meeting last autumn it was agreed that centres providing crucial services, even if reduced in number, would still include one based in the north. The subsequent meeting was very poorly represented by services from BGH, with no surgical representation at all. The final proposal is in direct contradiction to the original agreement.

The proposal to remove any service is at odds with the ethos of keeping care local, and will have multiple repercussions. It is frankly dangerous to rely on the availability of an ambulance, let alone a helicopter, for a truly urgent transfer. It is sometimes impossible even now to get a blue light ambulance when required. The increase in traffic that will be generated (ambulances, patients attending more distant sites, anxious relatives visiting) has a list of perils all its own, from the inconvenience to other road users, through increased environmental pollution (and fossil fuel use at a time approaching peak oil), to an increase in road traffic accidents and thus Hywel Dda's workload. It will also have ramifications for the local economy generally - we are home to two universities, the national library and a branch of the WAG [Welsh government]. Recruitment and retention to these institutions would be affected.

In short, we have lost all confidence in Hywel Dda Health Board's commitment to support us in delivering the services we provide locally.

To Trevor Purt, Chief Executive, Hywel Dda Health Board

Cc: Chris Martin, Chairman, Hywel Dda Health Board

Lesley Griffiths, Minister of Health, Welsh Assembly Government

Elin Jones AM

Mark Williams, MP

Aber Group