Carmarthen

Health board launches consultation on location of controversial new hospital

Hywel Dda University Health Board has launched a public consultation on which of 3 potential sites in St Clears and Whitland it should build a new hospital, in plans that would also see the downgrading of existing hospitals in Carmarthen and Haverfordwest.

Published

1 month ago

26th February 2023

Editor

The £1.3b proposal was put to Welsh Government last year for consideration, which would see Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen and Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest downgraded to community hospitals, removing the existing accident and emergency facilities.

Both would however provide 24/7 GP-led urgent care centres, with facilities for day case procedures, as well as therapy and nurse-led beds for less critical needs and rehabilitation. Diagnostic support such as x-ray and ultrasound would continue, as well as outpatient and other clinics.

Prince Phillip Hospital in Llanelli and Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth would be less impacted by the proposals according to the health board, however they would see the transfer of more specialist cases to the new Urgent and Planned Care Hospital.

The new hospital would be build on one of three sites in St Clears or Whitland in Carmarthenshire, which the health board want feedback from the public on choosing.

Proposed Sites

Whitland Spring Gardens is a short distance north-east of the centre of Whitland. It is between the A40 to the north, Whitland rugby pitch to the east, and Spring Garden homes to the south.

Whitland Tŷ Newydd is part of Tŷ Newydd Farm. The site is to the east of the old Whitland creamery. The town centre and the A40 road is less than one mile to the north of the site.

St Clears is land at old Bryncaerau fields, next to the junction of the A40 and A477 in St Clears. The A4066 Tenby Road is to the south, the village of Pwll Trap to the north, and the A40 to the west.

Need for change

The health board say that a new hospital with a purpose-built environment would allow them to meet standards for modern healthcare and improve the patient and staff experience.

It argues that a reduction in the duplication of some services across sites will allow them the scale to provide better care and would allow them to provide more services than currently available to existing sites, such as radiotherapy, neurology services, and cardiac catheterisation services.

Hywel Dda say the experience it has seen in other places is that staff want to work in new hospitals as they have the latest facilities and technologies and can improve employee well-being. It would also allow them to offer more attractive rotas, such as fewer unsociable hours to medical staff and trainees, and to provide health education, academic, research and innovation facilities on the site, for all clinical staff, including nurses and therapists.

It says that by separating planned and emergency care at the new hospital, we will avoid the risk of emergency activity negatively affecting planned care through cancelled operations.

The health board say that re-purposing Glangwili and Withybush as community hospitals with facilities for step-up or step-down beds and care, and strengthened community services, will help them reach our ambition to discharge most patients from the Urgent and Planned Care Hospital to their own homes or more local community hospitals within 72 hours.

They say that by planning and delivering care differently, and having modern and efficient buildings, would support us them to reduce their carbon footprint and help them meet their target of 34% carbon reduction by 2030.

Consultation

Maria Battle, Hywel Dda UHB Chair, explains: “A new urgent and planned care hospital is part of our strategy to be able to re-provide more care in community settings, by having a sustainable hospital model fit for future generations.

“This will improve and increase the specialist care services that can be provided in Hywel Dda and tackle some long-standing challenges, including old hospitals, problems in maintaining medical rotas over several hospitals, and staff recruitment.”

Steve Moore, Hywel Dda UHB Chief Executive, added: “Our consultation sets out three potential sites for a new Urgent and Planned Care Hospital in the south of the Hywel Dda University Health Board area – two near Whitland and one near St Clears.

“We do not have a preferred site and we have not bought any site or land for this development. Purchasing a site and delivering the new Urgent and Planned Care Hospital is subject to the Welsh Government funding, which is not yet confirmed, and if successful, would take several years to achieve. In the meantime, we want to continue to work with you, our communities, to prepare and deliver the best health and care services that we can.”

Lee Davies, Hywel Dda UHB Executive Director of Strategy and Planning, said: “We want to meet with and hear the views of as many people in our communities as possible during the consultation. To help members of our communities to learn more about the plans for our new urgent and planned care hospital, we have arranged a number of public drop-in events – both in-person and online – for people to share their views with us. We look forward to meeting with members of our communities during the coming weeks.”

The public drop-in events will be held between 2pm and 7pm: