Powys councillors have set aside their political differences to unanimously condemn potential moves to cut hospital beds and other health services in the county.

At a Powys County Council meeting on Thursday, 8 October, councillors were asked to back a five-point motion that stresses the need to improve and not cut health services.

This is a response to the Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) consultation, which started on Monday, 5 October.

The motion was put before councillors by the council’s anti-poverty champion and long-time healthcare campaigner Cllr Joy Jones.

Cllr Jones said: “Home-based care puts huge pressure on carers, on families and on people who simply can’t manage alone, and when the support is not there, it is the vulnerable who pay a price.

“People are not reassured, they feel let down again, they have been managing on the bare minimum for years and now they are being asked to accept next to nothing.”

Cllr Graham Breeze, who seconded the proposal, said: “Our residents already travel some of the longest distances in Wales to access health services, thousands are treated outside the county every year, families already spend hours on the road to visit loved ones.

“Yet the answer being proposed seems to be fewer beds, fewer local services and more travelling.

“That is not progress but a devastating step back into the dark ages for health care in local communities.”

Cllr Breeze said that a recent private meeting between councillors and PTHB had been a “total sham”.

“Rehearsed propaganda and a clear warning that PTHB is not prepared to listen or meet face to face in public meetings,” said Cllr Breeze, as he urged all councillors to support the motion.

Cabinet member for adult social care Cllr Pete Roberts said there were “emerging concerns” about how the proposal could impact the council and that work on a formal consultation response was taking place.

Cllr Roberts raised concerns about removing beds if the home care model proposed by PTHB did not have the staff to do the work.

He believed there would be an expectation for council social care staff to “sweep in and pick up the pieces”.

Cllr Roberts said: “We’re already seeing some of our domiciliary care providers relying on staff commuting from the West Midlands, where will these new staff be coming from and who picks up the bill?”

He believed that the lack of “step-down beds” in Powys could see residents placed in hospital in “Cheshire or Worcestershire” to continue their recuperation.

“The proposals before us present a clear and present danger to the delivery of adult social care services, this is not good enough for Powys residents,” said Cllr Roberts.

Deputy council leader Cllr Matthew Dorrance said: “The NHS is there to support us all in our time of need, that contract is in danger of being broken under these proposals.

“The late great Aneurin Bevan said that the NHS would last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.

“Let’s keep the faith and fight for it.”

Conservative group leader Cllr Aled Davies said: “I can’t see what they are proposing is a solution at this moment in time, they must take communities along with them, and at the moment they are failing to do that.”

Eventually, a vote took place and all 53 councillors at the meeting voted to support the motion.

The PTHB Better Together consultation started on 5 October and will run until 10 January.