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Criticism over lack of Health Board events

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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.”

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Rugby Weekly – Tenby’s promotion push continues

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It’s crunch time for all rugby clubs around the county, whether promotion is their aim or fighting relegation or even just trying to improve their league position, it’s now or never. 

Last weekend saw an important win for Fishguard in division two west which should put any relegation fears to bed completely. James Griffiths added an impressive 18 points for the Seagulls as they defeated Nantgaredig 33-19. 

Elsewhere in the second division, Milford were beaten 32-8 by a good Lampeter outfit. The Mariners are still a little too close for comfort with the drop zone but should have enough quality to see them safe. 

At the other end of the table Tenby sit in second place and have played fewer games than leaders St Clears and third place Lampeter. They won impressively again last weekend, beating Pontyberem 64-19 at Haywood Lane. Fletcher Broadhurst impressed with two tries as did Hywel Baker who also grabbed himself a brace. Another excellent performance in an outstanding season so far in which promotion would be the absolute icing on the cake. 

In Division Three West, Pembroke were well beaten by Laugharne 74-15 in which the outstanding Liam Price and Nico Setaro both crossed the whitewash 4 teams a piece. The latter also added 7 successful conversions. 

There was a local derby at Pill Parks where Llangwm hosted Pembroke Dock Quins and it was an exciting clash. The visitors won narrowly 28-23, Craig Barnett and Gethin Bradney both scored two tries for the Quins. The Wasps battled hard and will be proud of their performance, Gethin Thomas impressed for the hosts with two tries of his own but it wasn’t enough to secure the points. 

St David’s hosted the high flying Cardigan outfit and were unable to score in reply to the visitors 20 points, with it ending 20-0. The Saints however won’t be losing too much sleep over it as they have had a great season so far. 

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Stephen Crabb leads inquiry on retaining community bank services  

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PRESELI Pembrokeshire MP, and Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee Stephen Crabb is leading an inquiry in Parliament that will investigate the closure of high street banks in Wales, as well as access to cash.

In November 2023, Pembrokeshire saw the closure of Lloyds Bank in St Davids, and in the coming months both Barclays Bank and Halifax in Haverfordwest are set to close. In recent years, Wales has experienced a rapid decline in the number of high street banking services available to the public. Already in 2024, 23 high street bank closures have been announced in Wales, while automated teller machines (ATMs) declined by nearly a quarter between 2018 and 2023.

The Committee willconsider how declining high street banking services are impacting vulnerable people and small businesses across Wales, who are often more reliant on cash than digital banking. It will also examine how Wales is being affected by the loss of high street bank services, and whether the problem is worse in Wales than other parts of the UK.

Mr Crabb is a staunch advocate for retaining community banking facilities, especially in rural communities like Pembrokeshire where many local branches remain the only source of face-to-face banking provision for miles.

Recently Mr Crabb challenged Barclays Bank senior management on their decision to close the bank branch in Haverfordwest– a move that will see Barclays not only pull out of the county town, but means they won’t have a branch left anywhere in Pembrokeshire. He has also engaged with LINK – the UK’s largest cash machine network – and continues to campaign on the basis that a Banking Hub is established and that ATM machines should be retained or installed, especially in areas worst affected by the closures.  

Following the launch of the inquiry, MP Crabb added: “It is really sad to see so many banks across Wales closing as online banking grows in popularity. Despite the advantages of online banking, for a rural community with an ageing population like Pembrokeshire, bank branches hold huge importance as they offer face-to-face customer service.”

“I am acutely aware of the inconvenience that the bank closures locally have already caused following hundreds of replies from constituents to my ‘online banking survey’ ”

“I am looking forward to gathering further evidence on this subject through the committee’s inquiry, and will continue to put pressure on the relevant stakeholders to ensure that adequate alternative provisions are made through the establishment of banking hubs as well as the instalment of ATM machines where necessary.”

“In this inquiry, we are particularly keen to hear from those likely to be directly affected by the shift away from cash and physical banks. I encourage anyone with first-hand experience of losing banking services to give evidence to the Committee”

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Trains resume between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock as works end

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TRAIN services resumed this morning (Thursday 28 March) after ten days of essential round-the-clock work to upgrade track and drainage between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock.

The railway was closed from Monday 18 March to Wednesday 27 March to allow Network Rail teams to replace more than 200 metres of track and 300 tonnes of ballast (track stones) between Pembroke station and Pembroke Dock.

Work to improve the drainage between Narbeth and Kilgetty stations was also completed at the same time.

Nick Millington, Network Rail Wales and Borders route director, said: “This essential work in Pembrokeshire demonstrates our commitment to improving the reliability of the service we provide to passengers along our route.

“We know that replacing the track can be disruptive and very noisy, so I would like to thank the residents of Pembroke for their patience while our team carried out this crucial work.”

Colin Lea, Planning and Performance Director at Transport for Wales said: “We’re pleased that our colleagues in Network Rail have completed this essential work and that Transport for Wales rail services resumed today.

“We’d like to thank passengers for their patience while this work has progressed and look forward to welcoming passengers back in time for the Easter weekend.”

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