Rearguard action

Hywel Dda Regional Health Board have consulted on three proposed options for reorganising health services in South West Wales. All three involve downgrading the general hospital in Pembrokeshire, in the first instance by removing A&E services from the county. This means that many patients would have to travel for up to an hour to get treatment, on roads that are often blocked by accident or weather - that's after waiting up to an hour (sometimes even longer, as I know from personal experience) for an ambulance to arrive. The  closure of A&E would almost certainly be a prelude to removing other services too - maternity and paediatrics have already gone.

Needless to say there is strong local opposition, with a broad-based campaign to challenge the Health Board and persuade the Welsh Government to intervene. In July a petition was handed in with 40,000 signatures (the population of the county is 120,000). This Saturday there was a demonstration attended by over 1200 people, in the wind and rain. Good-humoured (with a jazz band) but determined. Main picture shows a small slice of the gathering; extra shows a patient who 'escaped' to show his support. Passing motorists, and ambulance drivers entering and leaving, sounded their horns in support.

The original Hywel Dda was the prince based at Hendy Gwyn ar Daf (Whitland) who codified traditional Welsh law before it was suppressed by the English kings. Whitland, over the border in Carmarthenshire, is now one possible site for a new hospital being discussed by the Health Board, which most people locally regard as a pipe-dream even if it was a good idea, since there is not enough money to maintain existing services.