A petition calling for a mid Wales hospital facility has gathered over 1,000 signatures.

The petition, which was created by Andrew Wallace and is collecting signatures until 19 February 2022, is calling for the Senedd to consider opening “a full hospital facility, including an A&E department in mid Wales”.

The petition states: “The public of mid Wales currently must travel between 30 and 50 to get to the nearest hospital facility.

“We are relying on English hospitals and English out of hours service to care for our people.

“Recently ambulance times in the mid Wales area have taken up to five hours to reach patients who are obviously in difficulty, sometimes in life threatening circumstances.

“Our basic medical facilities in the area are struggling to cope.”

Insufficient ambulance service coverage has featured prominently recently, with one rugby player, Eifion Pughe, left waiting six hours for an ambulance after fracturing his pelvis in two places during Machynlleth Rugby Club’s away match in Llanidloes in September.

The petition has so far gathered 1,195 signatures, which means it will be discussed by the Petitions Committee.

A spokesperson for Powys Teaching Health Board said: “We understand that all petitions submitted via the Senedd Cymru petitions page are considered by Senedd Cymru in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Petitions Committee.”