Welshpool Hospital public consultation starts Monday
By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter
At a meeting of Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) yesterday (Wednesday), members received an update on how preparations for the 14-week long consultation have progressed.
The board had agreed to hold the consultation on a number of proposals under the Better Together banner at a meeting earlier this month.
They include plans to close Welshpool’s beds ward as well as removing the X-Ray facility and Minor Injuries Unit.
Deputy Director for Engagement, Communication and Corporate Governance, Adrian Osborne, said: “Following the decision of the board on September 16, we have been undertaking detailed planning in readiness for a period of full and open consultation.
“Based on our readiness and assurance assessment we are confident we will be ready to go live with the consultation on October 5, our target launch time is 3pm.
“That will allow digital and on-line checks to be made ahead of the launch so that we have space and time during Monday morning to check it’s all working before it goes live.”
Mr Osborne continued: “Consultations aren’t referendums, this is about truly testing the detailed analysis that has already been made, checking out new ideas and information that may not been fully considered, re-considering the way options have been weighted against each other.
“It will be absolutely essential that the information we hear is analysed and published and that as a board you are able to demonstrate how contributions have influenced decisions you intend taking in the spring of 2027.”
Independent Board Member, Mick Giannasi, asked: “What are we going to do through the consultation process to help communities see this as a genuine consultation rather than a process which to a conclusion that has already been reached? What are we doing to take people with us?”
Mr Osborne said: “As a board I recognise that you are under no illusions that these are astonishingly contentious issues, people care deeply about services that have been in their communities for many years.”
He explained that he expected to hear a “wide range of opinions” including opposition to the proposals from a myriad of different ways that feed into it.
Mr Osborne said: “A mid-point review will be really important for that, because will be monitoring who we have or not heard from.”
He explained that this would allow the team to decide where to: “focus further capacity in the later part of the consultation period, in order to make sure people have had the opportunity to bring their voice about this important consultation about the future.”
Mr Giannasi responded: “You have quite clearly thought all this through and it’s reassuring to hear the depths we will be going to.”
PTHB Vice-Chair, Rhiannon Beaumont-Wood, said: “A really important item in terms of launching the consultation, we genuinely want people to engage with this process.”
The board went on to agree the report.
The consultation is expected to run until January 10, and will include 13 drop-in events across Powys.
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