Health board paper recommends moving 4,350 patients to nearby surgeries from 30 June 2026 as staffing and building pressures continue.

HYWEL DDA HEALTH BOARD is set to consider the future delivery of GP services for patients registered at Meddygfa’r Sarn, Pontyates, at a public Board meeting on Thursday, January 29.

A paper due to be discussed recommends a managed dispersal of the practice list to neighbouring surgeries from June 30, 2026, with patients transferred to another practice closest to their home address.

Meddygfa’r Sarn has been health board managed since 2017, after the former GP partners resigned the practice’s General Medical Services (GMS) contract. Since then, Hywel Dda has been responsible for services for a registered population of around 4,350 patients.

The health board says the practice has faced ongoing staffing difficulties and currently has no permanently employed doctors. It also describes the building as small, with limited facilities.

In October 2025, the board convened a Vacant Practice Panel in line with national guidance to review long-term options for GP provision in the area, considering patient access, workforce sustainability, premises, quality of care and financial issues.

The panel concluded that a managed dispersal offered the most sustainable long-term solution for patients and primary care services in the Amman Gwendraeth area.

If approved, patients would be transferred to nearby practices including Coalbrook Surgery (Pontyberem) and Meddygfa Minafon (Kidwelly), with a smaller number moving to practices in Llanelli.

Andrew Carruthers, Hywel Dda’s Chief Operating Officer, said the health board has a duty to ensure GP services are safe, sustainable and high quality, adding that Meddygfa’r Sarn has struggled to provide the level of continuity of care the board would like.

He said that if the recommendation is approved, the health board would engage with patients, staff, local communities and stakeholders before any changes are implemented.

The Board meeting will take place at 9.30am on Thursday, January 29, at Ceredigion County Council Chambers, Aberaeron, and will be streamed live online.

WELSH NHS Confederation says planned care is improving but calls for prevention, sustainable social care funding and investment in estates and equipment

NHS leaders in Wales have welcomed major progress in cutting waiting lists, including what they said was a record monthly reduction, but warned improvements could stall without longer term reform and investment.

New data for November show there were just under 757,900 referral to treatment patient pathways waiting to start treatment, a fall of around 23,400 compared with October and about 44,000 fewer than the same time last year.

The figures also show just over 38,100 pathways waiting longer than one year for a first outpatient appointment, down on the previous month and 62.9% lower than the peak in August 2022. It is the lowest figure since October 2020.

For the longest waits, the number of pathways waiting more than two years fell to just under 6,900, down 90.2% from the peak, a month on month reduction of 450, and 17,500 fewer than the same month last year.

The update also included emergency care activity, with just under 87,700 attendances recorded across all emergency departments in December, an average of 2,828 per day. That was 159 fewer attendances per day than the previous month and similar to last December.

Responding to the activity and performance statistics for November and December, Nesta Lloyd-Jones, assistant director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said it was very positive to see progress across planned care in Wales.

She said November saw the biggest monthly waiting list reduction on record, with December expected to show further cuts, and added that while not every performance area improved month to month, many measures were ahead of where they were a year ago.

Ms Lloyd-Jones also pointed to improvements in ambulance handover delays over the last year, which she said reflected a focus by the NHS and local authorities on improving patient flow, leading to faster care and better outcomes for patients.

However, she warned the NHS could not rely on unplanned targeted funding alone and said a wider shift was needed, including a stronger focus on prevention, a sustainable plan for social care and a rethink on capital investment, to ensure progress is maintained.

Only 64.3% of patients were seen within four hours in December, as Conservatives accuse Welsh Government of failing to end long waits

PERFORMANCE in Welsh emergency departments has slipped further from the four-hour target, with new NHS figures showing the lowest level for three years.

The latest statistics show that in December, only 64.3% of patients spent less than four hours in emergency departments from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge — far below the 95% target.

The figures also show 10,193 patients waited 12 hours or more in December, despite the target being that no patients should face waits of that length.

The Welsh Conservatives said the overall NHS waiting list remains at 757,866 patient pathways (November), which they described as the equivalent of nearly one in four people in Wales. They also highlighted what they claim is a continuing gap with England, stating that Wales had 6,883 two-year waits for treatment compared with 177 in England.

In a statement, Peter Fox MS, Chair of the Senedd’s Health and Social Care Committee and the Welsh Conservatives’ Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, said: “It is clear that after 27 years of Plaid-backed Labour Governments, our NHS is broken. In some areas, the situation is even deteriorating.”

He claimed ambulance response times, cancer performance and emergency department waits had all worsened, and said the Welsh Conservatives would declare a “health emergency”, increase hospital bed capacity, and roll out rapid diagnostic centres and surgical hubs to improve patient flow and cut waits.

The Welsh Government has previously pointed to recent reductions in the overall waiting list and the longest waits for planned treatment, alongside investment aimed at increasing appointment capacity, including through weekend clinics.