Sir,

My name is Lyn Neville and I am the co-ordinator of the local charity, Pembrokeshire Cancer Support.

I had a letter published in the Observer on Friday, February 10, explaining my fears and concerns about the future of the health service in Pembrokeshire.

I am pleased to say that the letter raised plenty of interest and I am therefore doing a follow-up to that letter.

My main worry is for cancer services at Withybush Hospital. I attend CDU (Chemotherapy Day Unit) stakeholders meetings, I am a Cancer COP (Care of Pembrokeshire Services) and most importantly have been, and continue to be, a patient.

A new CDU has been promised for many years and still we are talking about it, but now with the added worry of, will there be cancer services in Pembrokeshire or will they be centralised in Carmarthen.

I explained in my letter that I had recently seen the Hywel Dda Health Board Charitable Funds Annual Report for 2010-11.

The clue is in the name, 'charitable'. These funds have been donated by people who have thought enough of the services of their local NHS to leave donations in the form of collections or in wills etc.

The accounts showed that the three counties of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion had £8.2 million pounds between them in charitable funds.

I wrote to the chief executive, under the Freedom of Information Act, to ask how much is for Pembrokeshire and how much is for each separate section, e.g. Tenby Cottage, Ward 10 Withybush, CDU Withybush etc.

I received a reply on March 1 which gave me the Hywel Dda Local Health Board charitable funds - Pembrokeshire division balances as at March 31, 2011.

The balance of Pembrokeshire charitable funds was £3,056,252.86.

As I said, my own main concern is for cancer services and I was amazed to see that Ward 10 at Withybush Hospital, which is greatly in need of a facelift, has an incredible £292,705.01.

I have spent a fair amount of time on Ward 10 due to my own cancer problems.

It is certainly in need of some updating, even if only to make it a more uplifting environment conducive to helping recovery.

The staff on Ward 10 are excellent and I have nothing but praise for the work they do.

How can it be justified to be sitting on nearly £300,000, which in all honesty has taken some time to accumulate?

The cancer/chemotherapy day unit has £239,447.64 in charitable funds.

It can be regularly seen in the local newspapers how people work hard to raise funds for this unit staffed by wonderful doctors and nurses.

Many people who have sadly lost their fight with cancer leave money to the unit to help others in the future.

So why is £239,447 not being utilised to improve the unit?

I owe my life to the staff on CDU and therefore feel I need to speak out for them.

I in no way want to discourage people from raising funds for any part of Withybush Hospital, but I want to raise awareness that we must urge the Hywel Dda Health Board to use these funds where they are needed and keep services in Pembrokeshire.

People give money and donations because they genuinely want to help, so we must ensure the funds are used for the purpose intended.

Some other figures include: Tenby Cottage Hospital £13,978.75, Fishguard Health Centre £49,643.73, breast clinic fund £75,284.72, haematology fund £9,309.98, A&E fund £7,195.96 and the list goes on and on.

The amounts range from the very small to the very large, but all given for the good of Pembrokeshire health.

I would encourage anyone who is concerned about local health services to write to the Local Health Board, write to your Assembly Member, your MP to get your voice heard and to get some answers.

Lyn Neville,

Pembroke Dock.