THURSDAY’S health board decision to downgrade the emergency general surgery service at Pembrokeshire’s Withybush hospital has been condemned by local politicians.

Last year, Hywel Dda University Health Board consulted with its communities on options for change in critical care, dermatology, emergency general surgery, endoscopy, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, stroke, radiology and urology.

It said its Clinical Services Plan focuses on nine healthcare services that are “fragile and in need of change”.

These nine clinical services were selected because of risks to them being able to continue to offer safe, high-quality services, or care in a timely manner, the board has previously said.

The proposed changes included an option for Withybush patients needing specialist critical care being transferred to Glangwili.

At a two-day meeting into the proposed changes, held on February 18 and 19, the board backed changes into emergency general surgery which will see no emergency general surgery operations taking place at Withybush, but a strengthening of the same-day emergency care (SDEC).

For the other three hospitals, there would be no change in emergency general surgery provision, other than a strengthening of SDEC at Glangwili.

Members stressed the changes would not happen overnight.

Reacting to the decision, local MP Henry Tufnell described it as “another blow for access to healthcare in Pembrokeshire,” adding:  As your MP, I will continue to do everything in my power to fight for improvements to our essential services. I’ll be urging the Health Board to revisit this awful decision on emergency services.”

Plaid Cymru candidate for the forthcoming Senedd elections Kerry Ferguson called on the Health Board to reconsider its decision.

“We are so disappointed with the Health Board’s decision to remove the current emergency general services from Withybush. Whilst the Board has committed to maintaining and strengthening Same Day Emergency Care, residents of west Pembrokeshire will still face at least an hour’s journey to receive emergency operations or significant treatment.

“Residents in Pembrokeshire are rightly worried and anxious about the services Withybush might lose, and losing their emergency general services is a huge blow.

“I call on the Health Board to urgently reconsider their decision, and to take into account the risks and impact that implementing option A will have on residents of Pembrokeshire.”

Local Conservative politicians have also reacted angrily to the Withybush decision, along with changes to the stroke service provision at Ceredigion’s Aberystwyth-based Bronglais hospital.

Local Welsh Conservative Senedd Member, Paul Davies MS said: “I’m appalled that Hywel Dda University Health Board has voted to remove general emergency surgery services from Withybush hospital – but I’m not surprised.

“The Health Board is obsessed with removing services from Pembrokeshire and has spent years downgrading and removing services from Withybush hospital. As one constituent has rightly said, the Board should be rebranded the Carmarthenshire Health Board, as it continues to strip assets from other hospitals in west Wales.

“Removing general emergency surgery services critically undermines the sustainability of Withybush hospital’s A and E department and will result in patients having to be transported for urgent treatment. This is not acceptable – I will be taking this to the Welsh Government and urging Ministers to intervene and stop the Health Board from making this catastrophic decision.”

Fellow Pembrokeshire Conservative Senedd Member Samuel Kurtz MS said: “Residents in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion are being treated like second class citizens, as it is always us in the West that has to see our services cut.
“The salami slicing of services is exactly what the Labour government have wanted, and the health board are delivering. This is a sad day, and residents will rightly be angry and concerned.”

A WEST WALES taxi driver who raped a woman after driving her home following a night out has been jailed.  

Dominic Dalton, aged 30, of Pencader, has been jailed for nine years after being found guilty of rape.  

The victim had been on a night out with a friend in Aberystwyth, when she got into a taxi driven by Dominic Dalton in the early hours of Sunday, February 25, 2024. The victim believed Dalton to be a trusted taxi driver who would safely get her home.  

On the journey back, Dalton dropped her friend off first and then took the victim home. Swansea Crown Court heard how he claimed the taxi meter stopped working at this point, as the journey was never recorded past the friend’s address. 
 
During the ride home the victim fell in and out of sleep. When they got to her address, Dalton woke her and helped her inside, guiding her up to her bedroom, where she fell back to sleep. She woke to find Dalton raping her.  
To try and get him to leave, in desperation, she ran and grabbed a knife from her kitchen, screaming at him to leave her house.   

After he refused to do so, the victim managed to flee the property barefoot, slashing the taxi’s tyres, as she left. She found solace at a nearby address and bravely contacted police to disclose what had happened.  

Dalton left the property in his taxi and parked up nearby. He was picked up by another taxi driver after flagging them down, claiming he had had a blowout. He later drove back to the victim’s home address, returning her mobile phone after realising he had taken with him. Whilst there, he saw that police were already in the area. The court heard how he then made attempts to formulate his story and used his mobile phone to access websites with articles including ‘have you been falsely accused of rape?’ and ‘perverting the course of justice’, ‘wasting police time in cases involving allegedly false allegations of rape’. 

He was arrested the same day and following a lengthy investigation by Dyfed-Powys Police, Dalton was charged with rape. 

Appearing at Swansea Crown Court, he denied the offence, claiming the sex was consensual, but after a five-day trial, on January 17th, the jury took less than two hours to deliberate and unanimously found him guilty.  

On Wednesday 18^th February, he was sentenced to nine years in prison.  

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Mathew Nelson, said:  “I sincerely commend the victim’s bravery and resilience in coming forward to report the heinous crime of which she had been subjected to. Engaging with the Criminal Justice System as the victim has in this case takes an act of immense courage that deserves profound respect. By standing up and reporting Dalton, the victim has protected other members of the community too.  I hope this conviction and sentencing brings some closure to the victim after experiencing such an horrific ordeal.  

“As a taxi driver, Dalton’s job was to ensure that his passengers got home safely.   
He abused that position that night, exploiting the victim’s vulnerability, and later went on to lie about his actions. The conviction and sentence passed serves to punish Dalton for his actions, but importantly also validate the victim’s voice.  

“I hope the outcome will give confidence to other victims, in knowing their voices will be heard and listened to. I hope for the wider community, you will feel safe in the knowledge that a perpetrator such as Dalton has been dealt with robustly.”  

16-month sentence suspended as court imposes sex offender registration and ten-year prevention order

MAN in his sixties has been handed a suspended prison sentence after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Huw Bridges, aged 65, of Haven Drive, Hakin, appeared at Swansea Crown Court today (Friday, Feb 20) for sentencing following a trial last month.

Bridges had denied two counts of sexual assault but was found guilty by a jury after around two-and-a-half hours of deliberations.

He was sentenced to sixteen months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. The court also imposed 180 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of 25 days.

Bridges was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order lasting ten years.

The offences related to incidents involving a teenage girl who was aged 16 at the time.

During the trial, prosecutor Hannah George told the jury that one incident took place on June 2, 2024, when the complainant was taken by Bridges on his motorbike to a secluded area near Carew Castle.

The pair went for a walk, during which Bridges kissed the teenager despite her trying to move away and telling him she felt uncomfortable. He then went on to touch her breasts and vagina over her clothing.

The jury was told the teenager reported the incident to her parents almost immediately after returning home. At that point she also disclosed an earlier allegation dating from between October 2020 and October 2021, in which Bridges was accused of touching her vagina over her clothing on another occasion.

“The prosecution’s case is that the defendant had a sexual interest in teenage girls,” Ms George told the jury.

Bridges was arrested on June 14, 2024, and later interviewed by police. In a prepared statement he denied sexually assaulting the complainant.

He accepted there had been physical contact but claimed he had only put his arm around the teenager and “pecked her on the cheek” in an attempt to comfort her, insisting the gesture was not sexual in nature.

After the jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts, Judge Geraint Walters adjourned the case for a pre-sentence report before imposing sentence today.