Fury at Powys bed cuts plan

Politicians and campaign groups have hit back at Powys health board plans to strip all inpatient beds away from Machynlleth and Llanidloes hospitals, with calls for the health minister to step in and force the board to resign.

Powys Teaching Health Board approved plans at its meeting on 16 September to launch a consultation on its ‘Better Together’ programme.

Papers from the meeting show the health board proposes reducing inpatient beds from the current 146 across eight community hospitals to as little as 60 across three or two sites in Brecon, Llandrindod Wells and Newtown.

Under both options presented, inpatient beds would be removed from both Llanidloes and Machynlleth hospitals

Plaid Cymru Gwynedd Maldwyn MS Elwyn Vaughan, who met with campaigners in Machynlleth, said the move would move services further away from residents in Machynlleth and Llanidloes.

“I fail to see how in Powys… having up to 100 fewer community beds can resolve any issues,” he said.

“It is a step in the wrong direction and one to which we are totally opposed.

“We will be working hard with communities to ensure a positive alternative proposal is developed.”

Welsh Liberal Democrats called on Plaid Cymru Health Minister Mabon ap Gwynfor to sack the Board of Powys Teaching Health Board, after members unanimously voted to press ahead with a public consultation on sweeping changes to community hospitals.

They have vowed to mount a major campaign across Montgomeryshire against the loss of local services and are calling on the Plaid Cymru Welsh Government to intervene before the plans progress any further.

Llanidloes Councillors Glyn Preston and Fleur Frantz-Morgans said: “We are absolutely furious that after everything the people of Llanidloes have said and done to defend our hospital, we are now being presented with options where every single road leads to the same place: the loss of our beds.

“Five hundred people came to our public meeting in Llanidloes.

“That should tell the Health Board everything it needs to know about what this hospital means to our community.

“People in Llanidloes will feel angry, betrayed and completely ignored. But we are not giving up.

“If the Health Board thinks our community is simply going to accept the hollowing out of our hospital, they have seriously underestimated us.”

The party says the Board has lost the trust of communities across Powys following months of controversy over its Better Together programme and the Health Minister should tell them to immediately pause the process and that if they refuse, sack them.

The vote came on the same day Welsh Liberal Democrat Senedd Member for Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd Jane Dodds and Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP David Chadwick handed the Health Board a petition containing 7,930 signatures opposing cuts to community hospitals.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have branded the consultation a “sham”, arguing that key options have already been discarded before residents are formally consulted, leaving communities to choose between different versions of cuts and centralisation.

Under the plans Llanidloes and Machynlleth residents requiring community inpatient care would access services in Newtown, the report said.

Machynlleth hospital would also lose its x-ray provision under the plans, also transferred to Newtown.

Other proposals will see urgent care concentrated at Brecon and Newtown, and adult and older adult inpatient mental-health services consolidated onto a single site in the Brecon area.

The Protect Bronglais Services group also weighed in on the plans, with Chair Lisa Francis saying it is “devastating news for people living in the western part of Powys and will also have a knock-on effect for Bronglais as the only District General Hospital in Mid Wales.”

“A lack of availability of step-down care at these community hospitals will likely result in delayed discharge of care at Bronglais just as it has with the closure of Dyfi Ward at Tywyn Hospital.,” she said.

“Powys Teaching Health Board and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board do not understand that many residents living in Mid Wales are customers of three different health boards including Hywel Dda UHB yet we use only one DGH.

“There is simply no joined-up thinking between these health boards at all who appear to operate in isolation.

“I’ve no doubt that this decision is about rationalisation and it will affect our elderly, frail and vulnerable the most.

“It feels particularly personal to me as like many of us, I’ve a number of elderly family who received the most amazing care at Machynlleth which enabled them to be discharged from Bronglais more quickly and then from Machynlleth, get home and resume their independence.

“This is an important service and the idea that there there is sufficient care within Powys and Southern Meirionnydd for people to be managed within their own homes is for the birds.

“What planet are these decision makers living on?

“Welsh Government needs to intervene here or at least tell us why they won’t.”

Powys Teaching Health Board said the proposals “respond to major challenges facing health services” and said that “no decisions have been made about future service changes.”

The health board said the decision “means the published options will now be opened to public scrutiny so residents, patients, carers, staff and partner organisations can consider the evidence, describe potential impacts, suggest alternatives and help shape what happens next.”

“All options retain services at all community hospital sites in Powys,” the health board said.

“All options also include significant steps to improve the community services available in people's homes and, as these improvements are achieved, the need for bed-based care would reduce.

“The consultation options therefore set out a future vision with community hospital inpatient beds on fewer sites than now.”

Speaking after the meeting, Dr Carl Cooper, Chair of Powys Teaching Health Board, said: "Today's decision marks the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one. The Board has agreed that these options should now be tested through a fair, transparent and meaningful consultation.

"The recommendations approved today have been informed by feedback from thousands of patients, residents, NHS staff and partner organisations over the last two years.

"No outcome has been predetermined.

“We want people to test the evidence, challenge our thinking and help inform what happens next.

“We will need to understand the evidence, experiences, concerns and alternatives raised during consultation and give them conscientious consideration in public before any final decision can be made."

Kate Wright, Executive Medical Director, said: "Harm from prolonged hospital stays has become well evidenced.

“It is clear that a health system that can provide more care in community settings would deliver better care and outcomes for patients.

"These proposals explore how we can provide safe, high-quality care for future generations, support more people to stay well and independent, and retain inpatient care for those whose needs cannot safely be met at home.

“They are focused on strengthening community services for patients with physical and mental health needs.

"We want people to tell us where the proposals could improve care, where they could create difficulties and what else we should consider."

The consultation will run from 5 October 2026 to 10 January 2027.

13 locality drop-in events will be held across Powys, alongside online events, providing opportunities for people to meet the team, ask questions and discuss the proposals.

The current plan is for the Board to consider a post-consultation decision case in spring 2027.