Stephen Crabb MP, has this morning written to the Welsh Health Minister (see below), Mark Drakeford AM, to request a meeting to discuss Pembrokeshire people’s total objection to the loss of specialist maternity care at Withybush Hospital.
Stephen Crabb has urged Mark Drakeford to reconsider the significant evidence provided to him outlining the serious risks posed to constituents if vital local services are cut. The MP has also called for the Health Minister to visit Pembrokeshire to meet directly with the Save Withybush Action Team and other local poeple.
Speaking this morning, Stephen Crabb said,
“For over seven years myself and other campaigners have protested tirelessly against any downgrade to our local hospital.
Throughout this time, mine and Paul Davies AM’s repeated requests for honesty from the Welsh Government about their true intentions for Withybush Hospital have fallen on deaf ears. Local people understandably feel that their views and serious concerns have been completely ignored.
Pembrokeshire people have a voice and they deserve to be heard. It is time that the Health Minister met with me to explain face-to-face how removing vital services from our rural community could possibly not put lives at risk.”
“Dear Mark,
Although health matters are entirely devolved to you and your colleagues in the Welsh Government in Cardiff, the future of Withybush Hospital remains the biggest issue I am contacted about by constituents in my capacity as the local Member of Parliament for Preseli Pembrokeshire. You will be aware of the deep concern and anxiety that exists among my constituents following your decision to close the Special Care Baby Unit and to cut consultant-led maternity care at Withybush.
For more than seven years the threat of downgrade has hung over Withybush and there have been numerous demonstrations, petitions and public meetings in Pembrokeshire during this time. Local people have continuously expressed their total opposition to the removal of vital serves from the hospital.
At no stage have people in Pembrokeshire felt that they were being given clear and transparent information, either from the local Health Board or from the Welsh Government, regarding the true intentions about the long-term future of Withybush. The repeated requests of myself and Paul Davies AM for clarity and openness from the Health Board and the Welsh Government have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears.
You will be aware from the significant evidence put to you about the very serious risks posed to a rural community like ours from cuts to vital services at Withybush. Pembrokeshire is a rural area that has some very unique geographical challenges regarding access to healthcare. Our road network does not allow patients in critical conditions to be transferred easily and there is no question that any addition to the existing journey time will put lives at risk.
I share the dismay and frustration of my constituents who feel that this evidence and their own views and experiences have counted for nothing in the decision making process. I have heard countless testimonies from local people about how the Special Care Baby Unit has saved the lives of their own close family members.
You will appreciate that many of the local people I speak to cannot understand why the Welsh Government chose not to use the money given to it by the UK Coalition Government to protect health spending as a result of Barnett Consequentials. It is simply incomprehensible for many people that as health spending is increasing across the border in England, local people are facing the loss of vital services here in Pembrokeshire.
I would therefore request the opportunity to meet with you to discuss the evidence base for the decision you have taken and to request further information about how these changes can possibly not lead to increased risk for my constituents who will now have to travel long distances to Camarthen.
I would also encourage you to visit Pembrokeshire to meet directly with the Save Withybush Action Team and other local people on the ground who will be able to explain in their own words why it is so important that no vital services are removed from our local hospital.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Stephen Crabb MP”
