Montgomeryshire Liberal Democrats have pledged to mount a major campaign against controversial Powys Teaching Health Board proposals that could see inpatient beds removed from hospitals in Llanidloes, Welshpool and Machynlleth.
Under the plans due to go out for consultation, all 49 physical health inpatient beds currently provided across the three hospitals would be removed, leaving Newtown as the only hospital in north Powys with physical health inpatient beds.
The party warned that investment in Newtown must not come at the expense of healthcare in surrounding communities.
Llanidloes councillors Glyn Preston and Fleur Frantz-Morgans said residents would feel "angry, betrayed and completely ignored" by the proposals.
They said: "We are absolutely furious that after everything the people of Llanidloes have said and done to defend our hospital, we are now being presented with options where every single road leads to the same place: the loss of our beds.
"Five hundred people came to our public meeting in Llanidloes. That should tell the Health Board everything it needs to know about what this hospital means to our community.
"People in Llanidloes will feel angry, betrayed and completely ignored. But we are not giving up. If the Health Board thinks our community is simply going to accept the hollowing out of our hospital, they have seriously underestimated us."
Councillor Preston separately criticised the consultation process itself, saying: "They only have two options in this paper, and both of those options would mean to end inpatient beds in Llanidloes Hospital.
"I don't think this is a real or genuine consultation. I think it's a sham of a consultation because they've removed most of the options before they've even started."
Welshpool councillors Richard Church and Carol Robinson described the proposals as "devastating" and warned they would strip away services relied upon for generations.
They said: "Welshpool stands to lose its hospital beds, its Minor Injury Unit and its X-ray provision. Llanidloes loses its beds. Machynlleth loses its beds and X-ray service. One by one, services that generations of people have relied upon are being pulled away from our towns.
"We support better services and investment in Newtown, but this cannot become a choice between investing in one Montgomeryshire town and stripping services from all the others.
"There comes a point where you have to say enough is enough. Our rural communities deserve better than constantly being told that another service has to go."
The Liberal Democrats are calling on Welsh Health Minister Mabon ap Gwynfor to intervene before the proposals progress any further.
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