Local health campaigners have taken the fight to keep Tenby's Minor Injuries Unit open to the Senedd in Cardiff.

The South East Pembrokeshire Community Health Network (SEPCHN), which represents communities from Amroth to Manorbier, are gravely concerned about a proposal by the Hywel Dda Health Board to close the injuries unit in the seaside resort and transfer the services to the local doctors' practices.

The Health Board is currently consulting on the proposal, part of its 'Your Health/Your Future' consultation on the future of NHS services in the area, but both the SEPCHN and Tenby Town Council fear that the board has already made up its mind and will press ahead with the closure despite a great deal of public opposition.

As a result, they have combined to launch a petition to the Welsh Assembly's Petitions Committee calling on the National Assembly for Wales to ensure the proposals set out in the Hywel Dda's document referring to closure of the Minor Injuries Unit in Tenby, are not carried out and that the MIU in Tenby remains open.

"The Health Board has already closed the minor injuries unit in Tenby once this year," explained clerk to Tenby Town Council, Mr. Andrew Davies.

"This was a temporary measure due to alleged staff shortages in A and E at Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest.

"There was a major campaign locally at the time which saw the Health Board relent and re-open the unit in Tenby on a temporary basis.

"Now the 'Your Health/Your Future' document has been published again indicating a desire to close the MIU, this time permanently, with the services it provides being transferred to local GPs.

"Both the Town Council and the SEPCHN find these proposals incredulous as there has been no change in the circumstances which led to the fight to re-open the MIU earlier in the year," he said.

Mr. Davies explained that the MIU in Tenby serves a population in the south-east of the county of upwards of 20,000 people. During the main holiday season this population can rise to 50,000.

The Town Council has written to both GP practices in Saundersfoot and Tenby, and both have expressed grave concerns about the Hywel Dda proposals.

At a recent public meeting in Tenby, members of the public, the SEPCHN, the town council and local county and community councillors all expressed a fear that, even if the GPs were prepared to take over the services, this could still result in a major reduction in current opening hours, with possibly no provision on weekends and Bank Holidays.

"The Health Board's own figures show that the Tenby MIU was the busiest in the area last year and their proposals do not seem to acknowledge the distances people will have to travel to access these services if the closure goes ahead," Mr. Davies continued.

"Withybush is 23 miles away, and Glangwili 27. The transport network is often poor, with a bus to Haverforwest taking over an hour-and-a-half. Over 30 per cent of the population in Tenby, according to the last census, does not have access to a car.

"When this was pointed out to a representative of the Health Board at a meeting with the SEPCHN, he suggested that people start saving money in a jam jar to pay for a taxi.

"This type of response makes the SEPCHN and local communities fearful that the board has already made up its mind, despite the fact that the consultation does not conclude until October 29.