Over the past couple of months, I have carried out weekly street surgeries.

A few of these have been in part of Gwent such as Llantarnam, Llanhilleth, Brynmawr and Ebbw Vale.

It was while I was carrying out a street surgery in and around Ebbw Vale market one sunny Friday afternoon that I picked up on the strength of feeling over two particular issues that are closely related.

The first was about the public transport and the demise of some local bus routes.

People were lamenting the loss of direct routes to Cwmbran and Newport from Ebbw Vale. They were not too complimentary about the flexi bus service that has come in to replace them either.

Pensioners said the bus timetable changes had made them feel less independent and more isolated.

Older People is part of my portfolio for Plaid Cymru in the Senedd and I was disappointed to hear that our elderly people are felling this way. The pandemic has had a huge impact on society, but it has had an especially detrimental effect on elderly people. Public transport is something I will no doubt be returning to in the coming months to see what I can do as a Senedd member to make things better.

The other burning issue for the people on the streets of Ebbw Vale was the lack of connectivity with The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran.

Many people said it was too difficult to get there, especially on public transport.

One person also had experience of being a patient at the hospital and described waiting for a long time in an ambulance parked outside the hospital before she could eventually be admitted.

It is fair to say that many people would prefer to have the flexibility to travel to Prince Charles or Nevill Hall hospitals for emergencies or routine appointments.

I think it is unacceptable that some people need to catch as many as four buses to get to the hospital depending on where they live in the hospital trust’s catchment area.

I have written to Judith Paget - the outgoing chief executive of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board – to ask what is being done to make it easier for people without their own transport to get to and from the hospital. She wrote back with details of investment in transport schemes, but I’m not convinced it will be enough to bridge the gap between the hospital’s location and the fragile public transport network of Wales.