Stroke patients across west Wales could face much longer journeys for specialist care under plans being put out to public consultation — with Llanelli‘s Prince Philip Hospital set to lose its acute stroke capability if the preferred option goes ahead.
Hywel Dda University Health Board will decide at its public board meeting on 28 May whether to launch a second round of consultation on the future of stroke services — the one area it couldn’t reach agreement on when it made decisions on eight other fragile services at an extraordinary meeting in February.
Under the preferred option now being put forward, Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen would become the region’s only 24-hour acute stroke and rehabilitation unit.
Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli, Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest and Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth would all become treat-and-transfer sites — meaning patients would receive initial stabilisation there before being transferred to Glangwili, or directly to a thrombectomy centre in Cardiff or Bristol.
Bronglais would also have a stroke rehabilitation unit under the plan.
The health board says the current setup is dangerous. Stroke services are currently spread across four hospital sites and there is no specialist cover seven days a week — meaning patients are not always getting the standard of care they should.
The preferred option was not one of the original ideas put out to consultation. It emerged from two alternative suggestions — Option 106 and Option 210 — put forward by members of the public during the first phase. The board felt that neither worked on its own, but combined, they could.
The proposal is a significant one for Llanelli. The town has already seen its Minor Injuries Unit downgraded as part of the same Clinical Services Plan process, and local councillors have been vocal about the cumulative impact of service losses at Prince Philip.
Councillor Sean Rees warned last year that Llanelli “cannot afford to lose any more” of its healthcare services, and raised specific concerns about what the stroke changes would mean for Prince Philip — including the added pressure of patients being transferred in from Ceredigion if Bronglais was downgraded.
The board’s chair Dr Neil Wooding said the second consultation was a direct result of what communities told the board during the first phase.
He said: “Thank you to everyone who has already given their time and provided feedback in the first phase of our Clinical Services Plan consultation, which has enabled us to reach this point. While we were able to take decisions on eight of the nine fragile services included in our Clinical Services Plan earlier this year, no decisions about the future model for stroke services have been made.”
Lee Davies, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning, said: “We know how important stroke services are to our communities, and we are committed to taking the time needed to understand people’s views on the preferred option and the other options already consulted on, before any final decisions are made.”
He added: “We need to change our current service to ensure that people in our communities have the best possible outcomes and chance of recovery from a stroke.”
The consultation will ask whether people support the preferred option — and if not, which of the previously consulted-on alternatives should be considered instead. People will also be able to flag equality and Welsh language concerns.
If approved on 28 May, the consultation opens the same day and runs until 26 July 2026. The board will then weigh all the evidence from both phases before making a final decision later this year.
The public board meeting on 28 May will be broadcast live online, with board papers already published on the Hywel Dda website.
