Madam, When the decision was made to cut the hours at Ross MIU we asked for this to be called before the Council's Health Scrutiny committee where Councillors can scrutinise the decisions and call the executives to account.

Last week this happened and the interim CEO of the Wye Valley Trust, Derek Smith, was questioned on the reductions.

Mr Smith gave a detailed explanation of why the decision had been made to reduce the hours on the grounds of patient safety, and apologised to the committee for the speed with which the decision was made and implemented and the lack of consultation.

He confirmed that the current opening hours are concurrent with the availability of clinical cover from the local GPs but that he was now reviewing how the community hospitals could do more as part of a wider review of how services are delivered. This might include increased availability and access to services in Ross in the future.

When we attended the public meeting some time ago now, many excellent suggestions were put forward from the floor with no real acceptance from the other side, Dr Leamen said to the representatives of the Trust "If you can close it in four days, you can open it up again in four days" We agree with this statement and are extremely dissapointed at how much time has passed since the public meeting.

Let's hope that following the further meeting organised by Paul Deneen and the recent Health Overview and Scrutiny committee meeting, we get a proper and thorough review that involves everyone and the reinstatement of the status quo.

Cllrs Andrew Atkinson and Phil Cutter, Ross-on-Wye East Ward