Montgomeryshire MS Russell George has warned Powys residents are being “treated like second class citizens” over a lack of health funding fro the county.

Mr George led a debate in the Senedd on 11 March where he warned that rural communities in Powys are being left behind.

Mr George raised funding issues, health services moving further away from Powys, and the downgrading of services within the county.

He said Powys Teaching Health Board has not been funded correctly by the Welsh Government, and that the county faces “unique challenges” as it does not have a district general hospital.

He told the Senedd that Powys missed out on its share of funding last year when the Welsh Government provided £120m to tackle waiting lists, and left Powys out.

Mr George highlighted that Cardiff and Vale Health Board received £20m, while Powys Teaching Health Board received £115,000, less than 0.1 per cent of the total allocation.

He said that if the funding had been allocated on a per-population basis, Powys would have received around £5 million.

He also raised wider concerns about access to primary care, including pressures on rural GP practices, safeguarding pharmacy provision, and the collapse of NHS dentistry.

During the debate, Mr George said: “Services are continually moving further away from Powys patients.

“You've got the Welshpool Air Ambulance base moving to Denbigh, with no plans yet for the promised additional rapid-response vehicles, and Stroke services moving from Bronglais Hospital, which will force families to have five-hour round trips to south Wales to visit loved ones.

“There's a proposed new hospital and health hub in Newtown, which I fully support, but I would have liked those plans to have been more ambitious, and it’s now disheartening to see this project scaled back due to funding issues; when at the same time other capital funding is being promised in other parts of Wales.

“Powys lacks a district general hospital, we need our community hospitals to be strengthened; not downgraded, as has happened in Llanidloes.”

Speaking after the debate, Mr George said healthcare is “the most pressing issue facing the people of Powys.”

“Powys is not being treated fairly by a funding system that fails to account for how healthcare is delivered in the county,” he said.

“When Powys patients receive treatment out of the county, Powys Teaching Health Board must pay those providers for the treatment provided, but Welsh Government funding decisions do not take this into account.”

“It cannot be right that Powys received just £115,000 from a £120m fund, spread across the seven health boards, when on a per-population approach would have meant the sum should have been around £5m.

“The Welsh Government must rethink how funding is distributed across Wales.”

Mr George ended his debate by telling Senedd members that “Powys residents must not be treated as second-class citizens.”

“Fairness must mean fair funding and fair access, so that every part of Wales can get the care it needs,” he said.