A “constructive meeting” has been held over the changes to hospitals in Powys.

A meeting took place today (August 9) between councillors, local representatives and Powys Teaching Health Board's chief executive, Haylee Thomas, and director Kate Wright.

County Councillors, Elwyn Vaughan, Karl Lewis, Gareth Morgan, Glyn Preston and Gary Mitchell were in attendance and were given assurances about the future of Llanidloes Hospital which has been the subject of concern from local healthcare professionals.

Cllr Vauhgan who chaired the meeting said it had been a constructive meeting.

“It is obvious there are huge challenges including a potential £22.9m deficit this year and huge use of agency staff,” said Cllr Vaughan.

“Some assurances received were that there will be no changes to the maternity ward at Llanidloes, the palliative care unit will still be at Llanidloes, that any lessons learnt from this trial period will be used to inform any future developments and no long-term changes will be made without a full public consultation.”

READ MORE: Powys GP Dr Andy Raynsford warns over hospitals 'downgrade'

Cllr Karl Lewis said he had challenged Ms Thomas and Ms Wright about the potential changes.

“I pointed out that their evidence/data was weak for such radical change,” said Cllr Lewis.

“I told them that business decisions are led by data and so should these changes.

“Both Haylee and Kate confirmed they have not been in conversations with anyone or themselves about closing Llanidloes Hospital.

“The meeting was 1.5 hrs long. I warned them to proceed with care and sensitivity in any of their decision making as we are a very close community with incredibly strong ties to the hospital.”

Earlier in the day Cllr Glyn Preston and Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds sent an open letter to Powys teaching Health Board, raising issues they had about the proposals.

In the letter they said: “We are concerned about the haste with which this consultation has been arranged, with limited time for both public and staff to provide feedback.”

The changes have been the subject of controversy in Powys with highly respected Powys GP, Dr Andy Raynsford opposing the plans.

He said: “The process is flawed, what they should do is step back and engage properly with clinicians, with the public and the partner organisations as well – so it ends up with the wards being optimised to provide the best care they can.”