DWYFOR Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts has called on services to be maintained at Aberystwyth’s Bronglais hospital, after a leaked report suggested some services would be downgraded.

Ysbyty Bronglais is used by many people in the south Meirionnydd area and Mrs Saville Roberts said this week that any plans to downgrade would be ‘illogical’.

She said: “Any proposal to downgrade services at Ysbyty Bronglais seems illogical, ill-conceived and ignorant of the geography of rural Wales, especially given some of the distances people in Meirionnydd already have to travel to access current services.

“Families and patients living as far south as Tywyn in Meirionnydd could face a near 64 mile trip to their nearest A&E at Wrexham Maelor or an 89.6 mile journey south to Ysbyty Tywysog Philip in Llanelli if Glangwili also faces the threat of downgrading.’

“This in itself is an arduous journey but when dealing with medical emergencies, it is unacceptable and an unnecessary strain to place on patients and their worried families.

"The extra travel involved coupled with perennial concerns about the availability of ambulances in our most rural communities is an unacceptable burden which I fear could be dangerous to health and even life threatening in serious cases.”