PONTYATES: Meddygfa’r Sarn would become a branch of Kidwelly surgery under health board merger plan

Meddygfa’r Sarn would merge with Meddygfa Minafon in Kidwelly and carry on in Pontyates as a branch surgery, under new health board plans.

Hywel Dda University Health Board announced the proposal on Friday. It comes after nobody bid to run the surgery.

Patients, staff and residents will be asked for their views over four weeks, from Monday 2 November to Sunday 29 November.

The health board says no final decision has been made. A report is due to go to the board early in 2027, with any new arrangement starting from 1 April 2027.

What the Meddygfa’r Sarn merger would mean for Pontyates patients

Under the plan, Minafon would run the Pontyates surgery as a branch, alongside its existing branch surgery in Trimsaran. Staff would be shared across all three sites.

The health board says this would support “a more sustainable model for GP services” while keeping local access in Pontyates.

The engagement will also ask what services the Pontyates branch should offer and when it should open. Those details have not been set out yet.

Like Meddygfa’r Sarn, Minafon is run directly by the health board rather than by its own GP partners.

Andrew Carruthers: “No final decision has been made”

Andrew Carruthers, the health board’s chief operating officer, said: “We heard clearly how important it is to the community to retain access to GP services locally in Pontyates.”

He said the engagement would help “inform the detailed arrangements for how services could operate in future”.

He added: “No final decision has been made. The Health Board will consider feedback from this next phase of engagement, and I would encourage people to take part when it opens and share their views on the recommendation.”

Details of how to take part will be published when the engagement opens, the health board says.

Not one bid to run Meddygfa’r Sarn

The tender opened in July. It followed the board’s decision in May to explore whether a new or existing GP provider could take over instead of closing the surgery.

Hywel Dda told its September board meeting it was “disappointed that no bids were received through the formal tender process”. The tender closed on 7 September, according to the area’s county councillors.

The merger was recommended by the health board’s Vacant Practice Panel. In January, it was a Vacant Practice Panel that recommended dispersing Sarn’s patients to other practices.

At that time, the panel said a merger with Minafon would create a practice of around 13,000 patients across several sites, which it felt would bring its own problems.

Councillors and campaigners had called for a Minafon link

Earlier on Friday, before the announcement, Plaid Cymru county councillors Tyssul Evans, Meinir James and Alex Evans called for closer working with Minafon to be properly considered. They also called for Sarn to be kept as a managed practice, with permanent GPs recruited directly by the health board.

The councillors say Minafon has more than 8,500 patients but only one permanent GP.

They warned that the failed tender “cannot become the justification for treating closure as the best option”.

They also say they waited almost two months for a reply to concerns raised in August, while the tender was open, and that it did not answer their questions.

The Save Sarn Surgery Community Working Group had suggested merging or jointly running Sarn with Kidwelly’s surgery while keeping a GP service in the village.

The group also questioned the staffing figures given to bidders. “We have reason to believe these figures may not accurately reflect the staff actually working at Sarn Surgery,” it said.

Asked about the group’s concerns, Hywel Dda did not address the staffing figures given to bidders directly.

Mr Carruthers said the search for a new provider “was fully explored but did not result in any bids being received”.

He said that if the merger goes ahead, “workforce requirements, service provision and capacity across the combined practice arrangements will be assessed and developed to ensure patients continue to have access to safe and effective GP services”.

Patient numbers, capacity and future staffing arrangements will be presented to the board before any final decision is made, he said.

The group said: “All we are asking for is a sustainable GP service here in Pontyates.”