LLANDOVERY: A year after ‘safe from closure’ promise, hospital set to lose its X-ray service

A year ago this week, Hywel Dda health bosses promised more than 400 people at a packed meeting that Llandovery Hospital was not closing. On Thursday, the health board’s own plan sets out what the town is losing anyway.

Buried in the implementation table of the Clinical Services Plan going before Hywel Dda University Health Board is a single line: “Radiology — Removal of X ray service from Llandovery.”

The entry for how the change will be managed reads simply: “Patient travel to alternative sites.” The papers do not say which sites.

The nearest district hospital with a full radiology department is Glangwili in Carmarthen, more than 25 miles from Llandovery by road.

The same table lists the removal of the X-ray service from south Pembrokeshire, the area served by the community hospital in Pembroke Dock.

Last July, the health board moved to reassure residents that Llandovery Hospital was safe from closure after more than 400 people turned out to a public consultation event amid fears for local services.

That meeting was part of the long-running review that saw the health board explore more than 100 ideas for the future of community healthcare.

The Clinical Services Plan is the result: a reshaping of hospital services across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire that will see Glangwili become a regional hub for emergency surgery.

The X-ray withdrawals sit in the plan’s 2026/27 implementation year, the first year of delivery.

Public consultation on the plan closed on Sunday. At its mid-point, 1,360 people had taken part and 349 had filled in the questionnaire, with the papers noting participation was lower in Carmarthenshire, the county losing the Llandovery service, and among younger people.

The papers are frank about the mood: the plan’s independent quality assurers noted the health board’s “open reporting of negative public sentiment, including mistrust in the process”.

Elsewhere in the same plan, Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli gains seven-day radiology, while Llandovery’s X-ray service goes altogether.

The stroke question, the plan’s most contested element, is not being decided this week: the board will settle that on 26 November.

The board meets at 10.15am on Thursday at Ceredigion County Council’s chambers in Aberaeron, with the meeting streamed online.

The board is asked to approve the plan on Thursday afternoon. If it does, the X-ray withdrawals sit in the first year of delivery, making them among the earliest changes patients will see.