WE all to often report on stories that certain services are being cut back, usually due to cost considerations.

And sometimes we hear of concerns that key staff are overworked or that there are insufficient of them to do a job properly.

But today we report that Gwent's newest hospital, Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr in Ystrad Mynach may be forced to cut back on the service it offers because sometimes the £172 million hospital - opened less than three years ago - is not busy enough for some junior doctors to get the training they need.

The Wales Deanery, which oversees doctors' education and training in Wales, has already withdrawn some junior doctors from out-of-hours on-call work at the hospital, forcing the health board into an expensive staff rota reorganisation.

Now the Deanery says the remaining junior doctors will be withdrawn from out-of-hours on-call work at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr from February, saying there would be better teaching and on-the-job consultant support at a busier hospital, such as Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board is trying to find a way out, planning for more middle-grade doctor and consultant cover in Ystrad Fawr, but faces a tight timescale, while a health watchdog has warned the Deanery's proposals may put patients at risk.

With the problem having been identified by the Wales Deanery, we would urge it to work together with the health board to find a less drastic solution than one which forces hospital services to be cut back.

For although the proper training of doctors is important, surely the needs of patients must nevertheless come first.