THERE has been criticism of the small number of public drop-in events organised by the Hywel Dda Health Board, in response to the consultation about the future of healthcare in west Wales.

The three proposals, all of which involve the closure of Withybush Hospital, have been met with some protest.

This resulted in the organisation of seven drop-in events to give people the chance to voice their opinions.

The original venues were Cardigan, Carmarthen, Saundersfoot, Letterston, Aberystwyth, Llanelli and Llandybie.

Demand saw the confirmation of seven additional venues and dates, together with a virtual event, hosted on the Health Board Facebook page, for anyone who could not attend in person and would like to speak with clinicians.

The seven additional events were announced as taking place in Llandovery, Ammanford, St Davids, Llandysul, Haverfordwest, Lampeter, Milford Haven and the Facebook Virtual Event.

But it has been argued that there are still too few events and that the choice of venues doesn’t represent those affected most by the proposals.

In all three options, Bronglais District General Hospital will continue to provide services for mid-Wales, yet there are as many drop-in events in Ceredigion as there are in Pembrokeshire, who lose their hospital in all three outcomes.

Marc Tierney, who is seeking to become the next Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, said: “I am very disappointed that Hywel Dda Health Board has pretty much refused to hold any further engagement events in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire as part of the ‘Our Big Change’ consultation.

“The Health Board has secured an extra 3 dates for Preseli Pembrokeshire, opting to hold an event in Milford Haven and Haverfordwest, overlooking the communities of Pembroke and Pembroke Dock.”

The proposals come as a response to the challenges the health board currently faces, such as an ageing population, difficulty for many people in accessing services close to home, significant recruitment challenges – particularly specialist medical staff – and ageing hospital buildings which require a lot of maintenance to keep running.

The Health Board believe that reducing the number of main hospitals will enable fewer medical rotas to fill, making it easier to attract clinicians to come and work for Hywel Dda; also meaning shorter waiting times and fewer cancellations, and more money for local and community health services.

Hywel Dda Chief Executive Steve Moore said: “I’d like to personally thank everyone who has taken the time to provide feedback on our proposals to change the way we provide local healthcare services across the three counties. Our public drop-in events have been especially well attended so far and as a reflection of this I’m pleased to announce these new dates to ensure that as many people as possible can continue to get involved and talk to our doctors, nurses and therapists about their views. Don’t forget – if you want your voice to be heard it’s also vitally important that you fill in our questionnaire.”

Hywel Dda’s Executive Medical Director & Director of Clinical Strategy, Dr Phil Kloer, added: “We’ve come up with three proposals that we think are safe, viable and offer an improvement on what we currently have, and we are presenting these to you, to listen and talk to you further and take on board your views and ideas.

“We all have a shared passion for the NHS, our services, our history and our staff and we want to harness this to design, together with you, the best health service for our population. We are so grateful to those of you who have already been involved in this as patients, staff and members of our communities, and we are pleased to be able to provide a platform for further discussion in the form of these additional dates.”