Diolch, Diprwy Lywydd. I’m pleased to take part in this debate. I’d like to, at the very outset, place on record my thanks to the petition organiser, Myles Bamford Lewis, and the countless number of local activists who have gone out of their way to campaign to protect services at Withybush hospital.

Today's a very dark day for the people of Pembrokeshire following the disastrous news that Withybush hospital will lose its status as a round-the-clock district general hospital, and at the outset I ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services to urgently intervene on this matter and take immediate steps to protect our local services. Indeed, the very fact that just over 40,000 people have signed this petition just shows the strength of feeling about health services in west Wales and makes it abundantly clear that the people of Pembrokeshire will not give up their services without a fight.

As Members are already aware, this is a campaign that I've proudly supported for years, and in my role as the local Assembly Member I will continue to do everything in my power to oppose any plans that will result in services being removed from the hospital. It’s my view that the downgrading of services at Withybush hospital will not result in making services safer or more sustainable in the future.

Now, in opening this debate, the Chair highlighted the consultation launched by Hywel Dda university health board on its proposals for changing the way health services are provided across the health board area, and confirmed that, under all three proposals, Withybush hospital would be downgraded from a district general hospital. In other words, the people of Pembrokeshire had no choice in this consultation as the decision had already been made to downgrade the hospital to a community hospital. Surely that is no consultation.

In Pembrokeshire, we have suffered in the past from a lack of transparency, openness and confidence in our health board, and that has certainly had an impact on the way that these latest proposals have been received locally by people. Local people remember the rural health services strategy, 'spend to save' plan document that was leaked to the press and subsequently withdrawn, which talked about the centralisation of services away from Withybush hospital. That document made it clear that the only core services the health board wanted to deliver from Withybush was an urgent care centre: no A&E, paediatric assessments with pending transfers to Glangwili, short stay elective surgical services, low-risk obstetrics, and midwifery-led care. Well, fast-forward to 2018, and that's almost exactly where we are.

The health board's current consultation is simply the latest in a long string of attempts to continuously remove services at Withybush hospital in recent years, and, to be perfectly frank, the local people are sick and tired of having to fight to maintain essential services at their local hospital. In recent years, we've seen services such as orthodontic services and the special care baby unit closed and centralised away from Pembrokeshire, and we've seen full-time paediatrics downgraded.

This continual erosion of services has a subsequent impact on the sustainability of other services. For example, the continual downgrading of full-time paediatrics naturally has an impact on the A&E department at Withybush hospital, particularly given that 25 per cent of admissions to an A&E department are children. Indeed, the fact that the health board is even remotely considering downgrading the A&E department to a minor injuries unit only serves to prove the point made by those at the time that the downgrading of full-time paediatrics would have an impact on the sustainability of other services. This is what people like me and others were saying a few years ago, and I'm afraid we've been proved right. At the time, we were accused of scaremongering.

Let's also remember that the health board's proposals mean that patients will now have to travel further for essential services in a part of Wales where the transport network presents a number of challenges. Little attention has been given to the tired transport network of west Wales, which will have to cope with more and more people travelling eastwards from Pembrokeshire. Once again, this shows the level of priority attached to delivering health services in west Wales, and the Welsh Government must now put a stop to the health board's plans and send a clear statement that the constant removal of services away from Pembrokeshire will no longer be tolerated.

Deputy Presiding Officer, we also know that by downgrading and removing services, Hywel Dda health board and the Welsh Government have done nothing to help attract doctors and medical staff to the area, which, in turn, does nothing to protect the current provision of services. Now, more than ever, it's absolutely crucial that the Welsh Government intervenes and puts an end to the health board's catastrophic plans once and for all.

Therefore, in closing, Deputy Presiding Officer, can I once again reiterate my support for this petition and reiterate the views of the people of Pembrokeshire on this matter? The message is quite clear: stop downgrading our hospital. This is a message supported and advocated by representatives of all political parties and at all levels of government. Indeed, it is very much a team Pembrokeshire campaign, led by local people who care passionately about local health services.