QUESTIONS over whether vital health services should be provided at Bronglais Hospital have been answered with the hospital’s importance accepted, the chairs of the Mid Wales Healthcare Collaborative have said.

Just over a year after it was formed, collaborative co-chairs Jack Evershed and Dr Ruth Hall said it was now accepted that there should be no doubt about the future of Bronglais services, with the only question now being how those services should be provided.

The collaborative is currently working with a range of organisations including Hywel Dda, Betsi Cadwaladr and Powys health boards and county councils in the mid Wales area, with a range of issues, including the future of Bronglais Hospital, being the subject of focus groups to consider innovative ways of providing services.

Mr Evershed and Dr Hall said one of the biggest issues addressed was the increased security over the future of Bronglais.

They said: “There has been investment in beds and staff at Bronglais General Hospital rather than the years of disinvestment which preceded the Longley report.

“The important thing is that the debates are now about how services can be delivered in Bronglais, not whether they should be there.”

But Mr Evershed and Dr Hall did admit that changing systems in the health service was a lengthy process that required patience.

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