PONTYATES: Health board agrees to explore independent GPs for Meddygfa’r Sarn in major U-turn — as campaigners say closure should never have been on the table

The campaign to save Meddygfa’r Sarn has won its biggest victory yet.

At its meeting on Thursday, Hywel Dda University Health Board agreed to explore whether a new or existing GP provider could take over the running of the Pontyates surgery — rather than closing it and dispersing patients to neighbouring practices.

It is a major shift from the position the board took in January, when closure was put forward as the recommended way forward.

The board said it had listened to the strength of feeling during an eight-week engagement period, and acknowledged how important local access to GP services was to the community.

It also confirmed that “a small number of informal expressions of interest” had been received from potential providers interested in running the practice during the engagement period.

Meddygfa’r Sarn will continue to operate as a managed practice while the board explores those opportunities, with registered patients told to access GP services as they currently do.

Andrew Carruthers, director of operations at Hywel Dda, said the board had listened carefully to what people had told them.

“We heard clearly how much Meddygfa’r Sarn means to the local community,” he said.

“That has emphasised how important it is that we take the time to fully explore the viability of the informal interest that has come forward around the future running of the practice.”

He said the move allowed the board to respond directly to community feedback and consider whether a sustainable solution could keep services running from the practice.

The board will now assess the level of commercial interest and decide whether a viable long-term solution can be found through a formal commissioning process, carried out under national Provider Selection Regime rules.

Local Plaid Cymru county councillors Tyssul Evans, Meinir James and Alex Evans welcomed the decision — but said the work should have been done long before closure was ever recommended.

“This is a major step forward for patients and our communities who depend on Meddygfa’r Sarn,” they said.

“Over recent months, local people have made their feelings overwhelmingly clear. The unanimous opposition expressed during the engagement process demonstrated just how strongly residents felt about retaining local GP services in Pontyates.”

The councillors said one of the main reasons given for the proposed closure was a supposed lack of interest in running the surgery independently, which the board said had left it reliant on costly locum cover.

But they pointed out that multiple expressions of interest had been submitted since the January board meeting where closure was first recommended.

“This raises serious questions about whether enough was done to secure the future of the surgery before any closure proposals were put forward,” they said.

The point echoes one of the central findings of the campaign. Freedom of Information documents obtained by the Save Sarn Surgery Working Group revealed that no targeted recruitment had been carried out at the surgery in nine years — despite a lack of interest being cited as a reason for closure.

The councillors said the change of direction followed months of sustained pressure from patients, residents, campaigners and councillors who refused to accept that closure was the only option. They also thanked Cefin Campbell MS and Adam Price MS for their support.

“While there are still important steps ahead, today’s decision represents a significant and welcome change in direction, but the uncertainty and anxiety patients have experienced over recent months was completely avoidable,” they said.

They added that residents would expect the procurement process to be pursued “seriously, transparently and in good faith.”

The fight to save the surgery has run since January, taking in a cross-party motion by Carmarthenshire County Council, a human chain around the building, a petition to the Senedd topping 1,000 signatures, and a formal complaint over how the closure process was handled.

The councillors thanked everyone who had fought to save the surgery and highlighted concerns over poor public transport links, travel times and capacity pressures at neighbouring practices.