Hywel Dda University Health Board (the Health Board) provides health services for people across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire and also for nearby communities. We are now consulting on possible changes to nine clinical services, and this may impact on which hospitals they are delivered from. The nine services are Critical Care, Dermatology, Emergency General Surgery, Endoscopy, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Radiology, Stroke, and Urology. We welcome feedback from the public, our staff, stakeholders and groups impacted / affected by our proposals.
We have recognised for several years that some of our hospital services are fragile. This is mainly because our clinical teams are spread across multiple sites, and sometimes we rely on individual staff. Also, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to affect us. It has left us with long waiting lists, gaps in staffing (made worse by shortages nationally for some healthcare staff), social care pressures, and more demand for health services. Some of our services have not been able to return to pre-pandemic activity levels. This means patients are waiting longer than we would like for some planned care.
Given the challenges, we have developed a Clinical Services Plan, with options to change nine services. This is in a timeframe of up to four years from decision and also considering what further changes could be made in more than four years. In summary, the plan seeks to:
- respond to the fragility of the critical care and emergency general surgery services
- improve standards and outcomes, and address staffing challenges in the stroke service
- improve access to and reduce waiting times for planned care patients (ophthalmology, dermatology, urology and orthopaedics) and diagnostics (endoscopy and radiology).
In this consultation, we want you to tell us:
- which proposed options you think are best able to address fragilities in our services, improve standards or reduce waiting times
- concerns you may have about any of the options, or impacts you think they may have
- thoughts you may have on the future role of our hospitals
- anything else you think we need to consider, including alternative options or ideas you may have.
For information about the consultation, please read our consultation document: hduhb.nhs.wales/clinical-services-consultation
If you wish to receive a paper copy or you need a more accessible format, please call us on 0300 303 8322 (local call rates) and select option 5 'other services'.
To give your feedback, please complete this questionnaire by Sunday 31 August 2025.
