7. Debate on Petition P-05-826 — Pembrokeshire says NO!! To the closure of Withybush A&E!

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:18 pm on 26 September 2018.

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Photo of Mike Hedges Mike Hedges Labour 5:18, 26 September 2018

A view from outside the area, but a view from somebody else who was on the Petitions Committee: one thing we know from the petition is that there are a very large number of people who want an A&E service at Withybush. A petition of 40,045 signatures is unprecedented. You actually need 5,000 signatures for the Petitions Committee to ask the Business Committee if we can have a debate on it. We could have eight debates on this, because it beats it by more than eight times. I think it does show the amount of interest there is and the amount of opposition there is to the idea of closing A&E in Withybush. And I can understand it. The idea is that there will no longer be a functioning A&E department within Pembrokeshire; it'll be replaced by a minor injury unit on the Withybush site. In doing so, patients requiring emergency care in Pembrokeshire will be facing a substantial journey. And I speak as somebody who quite often travels to north Wales, because my daughter is at Bangor University, and I know that, in 2.5 hours, I can get to Machynlleth, or, in 2.5 hours from where I live, I can get to Birmingham. I know which is the furthest away, but, if anybody can manage an average speed of over 40 mph in rural areas, I congratulate you, and can you explain how you manage it? The tractors—ambulances haven't got an ability to fly over tractors, have they? The problem you get with Mansel Davies lorries—no offence to Mansel Davies, but your lorries do clog up the road—and trailers, especially in the summer, when you've got lots of caravanners moving caravans. The road network is appalling. To Angela Burns—and Paul Davies will bear this out—you're not the only people who've been asking for the A40 to be dualled. I've asked for it, I've written about it, I've called for it. [Interruption.] Certainly.