Sir, Last Tuesday's breaking news told us of the biggest shake-up to hospital-based services seen in Mid and West Wales for generations. The plans indicate that some special acute care, including obstetrics, paediatrics and emergency surgery could be removed from Withybush and Prince Phillip Hospital, Llanelli. In compensation, there will be either an extension of these services at West Wales General Hospital or the development of a single new integrated hospital facility. This strategy disregards the geographical isolation of many patients, towns and villages across Mid and West Wales. The road journey from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen is at least 75 minutes and the removal of services from Haverfordwest will force patients to make the arduous and difficult journey to Carmarthen for any emergency care. Given the unpredictable nature of obstetric emergencies, plans based on a remote cover and transfer policy will never be adequate. Every woman in a civilised society has the right to comprehensive care which should not involve long, distressing journeys which potentially endanger the life of mother and child. Any single acute hospital will be entirely dependent on effective road and air ambulance cover. Despite the sterling efforts of our blue lamp services, the current Assembly Government budget does not provide enough to make effective ambulance provision a reality. Also, given the additional population that the thousand proposed LNG jobs will attract to Pembrokeshire, the removal of acute emergency resources at Withybush will only dangerously burden our already overstretched emergency services. I am therefore asking women who are concerned about these changes (and how they may affect their families) to contact me so that we may effectively lobby against these ill-thought out plans which are part of Welsh Labour's centralising, 'one size fits all' urban agenda - which, I believe, has no place in rural Wales.

Lisa Francis AM, Welsh Conservative Assembly Member for Mid & West Wales,

National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff Bay,