HIGHLY skilled professionals from one of our top universities have expressed concern at the high mortality rates in Welsh hospitals.

Mark Drayford, Assembly Minister for Health, hit back by saying there is nothing wrong with the Welsh hospitals.

He refused to countenance an independent enquiry. Yet there are many people, including myself, who would love to see an independent enquiry into the state of the NHS in Wales.

Twenty years ago Caerphilly had a consultant-led maternity service second to none in Wales.

Over the years, we gradually lost facilities, including our maternity service at Caerphilly Miners’ Hospital, and our A and E Service – a situation mirrored throughout Wales.

We have not got the prospect of seeing most of our consultancy services lodged in fewer and fewer hospitals.

These plans would move our Accident and Emergency Services to Cwmbran, and anybody who needed to travel there to visit loved ones would need to take three different buses to get to the hospital.

So come off it, Mark Drayford. Listen to the people of Wales who know from their own experience that there has been deterioration in the NHS nationwide.

If we are to rebuild our service and regain peoples’ confidence we need a top level enquiry into the Welsh NHS Service, and particularly into their much higher than average death rates.

Ray Davies Bedwas Caerphilly