At the recent Health Board meeting in Llanelli, Alyson Thomas, chair of the Community Health Council acknowledged that their report to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health had been written with the understanding that it is not clinically possible to return services to Withybush. That they have accepted this as their starting point means that their report was predisposed to support the changes inflicted by the Health Board. They are supposed to be our voice; their acceptance of the Hywel Dda’s mantra and the failure to state this premise in their report must bring their role as our advocates into question.

Furthermore, they appear to have used their underlying assumption to filter evidence submitted to the review team, indeed concern has been expressed by some that extracts used out of context both trivialised and misrepresented their personal experiences.

The result of this is we have a review that has only looked at the ‘improvements’ at Glangwili since the transfer of services; that Withybush once had a superior service has effectively been airbrushed out of the picture.

Although we were promised that ‘nothing would be moved until Glangwili was ready,’ we now have confirmation that not only is the building still ‘not fit for purpose,’ but that application for funding for the necessary improvements cannot even be made until the next financial year.

Nevertheless, we are supposed to believe that trust in Hywel Dda can be ‘restored’ and that better communication can allay our anxieties.

Unfortunately, all the reassurances in the world cannot magically transform either the geography or the infrastructure of this part of the world; had the review team ventured further west than our county town, they might have better understood that issues of accessibility and transport times are not minor anxieties.

The removal of the out of hours Consultant cover and greater reliance upon the paramedics in a dedicated ambulance which lurches from one temporary contract to another does nothing to foster a sense of trust. To add insult to injury, discussion of the long overdue and much needed Cancer Day Unit, included a desire to press ahead with this in order to ‘mollify’ the people of Pembrokeshire!

It was a shame that there was no Pembrokeshire representation at the table, just an empty seat for Cllr Simon Hancock.

It was left to an interjection from the public bench to query the assertion that there have been ‘no serious adverse outcomes,’ which those with better information than I have seriously questioned.

There remains the serious challenge raised and left open by Dr Trounce of the review team as to the ability of an A&E department increasingly unfamiliar with the resuscitation of critically ill children out of hours to respond to such a need, should it arise.

This is precisely the situation faced by my family, fortunately whilst we still had a fully functioning local hospital.

Our County has been badly let down by Hywel Dda and their puppet masters in Cardiff Bay.

Heather Scammell

Haverfordwest