A Senedd petition has been set up in a bid to prevent Powys patients being treated like “second class citizens.”

The petition, launched by Powys County Council’s anti-poverty champion Cllr Joy Jones, was set up in the wake of a decision taken last month by Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) to increase the waiting times for treating Powys residents in English hospitals as they look to bring their budget down by over £20 million next year.

Cllr Jones is calling on the Senedd to take “immediate action to prevent Powys patients treated in English hospitals from facing increased waiting times.”

“This treats Powys patients as second-class citizens,” she said.

“Welsh targets apply to Welsh hospitals, shouldn’t apply to those treated in England.”

In her submission to the petitions committee, Cllr Jones quotes First Minister Eluned Morgan who said earlier this year that “I don’t want to see people in Powys suffer and I certainly don’t want them to go to the back of the queue if they are going to be treated across the border in England.”

Cllr Jones urges the Welsh Government to “plug the deficit and fund PTHB fairly.”

The petition has already garnered hundreds of signatures.

At a meeting of PTHB on 26 March, board members met to agree the annual plan for 2025/2026 ahead of its submission to the Welsh Government on 31 March.

PTHB needed to find savings of £26m next year to move from a £38.4m deficit to a £12m target control deficit set by the Welsh Government, and £8.6m worth of savings would be made by increasing the waiting times in English hospitals to match those in Wales.

Following the meeting PTHB said they “anticipate” the changes would come in on 1 July.