A HAVERFORDWEST opticians has been recognised as one of Wales’ leading optical practices after being shortlisted for eight awards at the Optometry Wales Awards 2025.

Specsavers Haverfordwest, which is locally owned and run, is a finalist across categories including Multiple Practice of the Year, Technology Practice of the Year and Collaborative Working. These nominations reflect its commitment to delivering outstanding service, patient experience and innovation.

The store has also been shortlisted for Sustainability Practice of the Year, following its gold award in the Greener Primary Care Wales Framework and Award Scheme last year, which recognised its dedication to reducing its environmental impact.

‘We’re thrilled to be recognised in so many categories this year,’ says Wayne Jones, retail director at Specsavers Haverfordwest.

‘It’s a testament to the hard work of our entire team and the care we deliver every day to people across Pembrokeshire. Being finalists in eight different categories really shows the breadth of our expertise – from clinical leadership to customer service – and we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved together.’

Several of the store’s employees have also been individually shortlisted:

• Andy Britton, specialist optometrist and ophthalmic director – Optometrist of the Year
• Chris Rosser, optical assistant – Optical Assistant of the Year
• Samantha Houghton, contact lens optician – Contact Lens Optician of the Year
• Alex O’Brien, dispensing technician – Rising Star

In 2023, director Andy Britton was awarded a medal by Specsavers founders Doug and Mary Perkins in recognition of his clinical excellence.

Mr Britton says: ‘It’s fantastic to be shortlisted for Optometrist of the Year, but what makes me most proud is seeing so many of my colleagues recognised too. This is a reflection of the dedication, innovation and care shown across our whole team.’

The winners will be announced at the Optometry Wales Awards ceremony in Cardiff on 29 November.

Specsavers Haverfordwest is open seven days a week. To find out more information about Specsavers in Haverfordwest, request an appointment or browse the online store, visit https://www.specsavers.co.uk/stores/haverfordwest. 

Additionally, to make eye health accessible to all, the store offers a Home Visits service for those unable to leave their homes unaccompanied due to disability or illness.

OLDER patients are being “prematurely written off” and discharged into care homes simply to free up hospital beds, a Senedd committee has warned.

Senedd Members found a focus on “patient flow” rather than outcomes meant temporary moves often became permanent, stripping older people of their independence.

John Griffiths, who chairs the Senedd’s local government committee which held an inquiry on hospital discharges, said improving step-down care needs urgent attention.

He warned: “We heard the push to free up hospital beds is often driving older people into residential care prematurely, with no focus on rehabilitation and access to therapy.

“We all know that a hospital is not an appropriate environment for people to recover but neither is a residential home without a focus on recovery.”

The committee was alarmed by evidence of people being “prematurely written off” through the practice of routinely and inappropriately discharging older people into care homes.

Mr Griffiths, the Labour Senedd Member for Newport East, said: “What may initially be seen as a temporary measure often becomes permanent as they lose independence.

“People shouldn’t be removed from acute hospitals into care homes just to free up hospital beds, important though that is.

“They need appropriate intermediate care with therapeutic and nursing input. We need to focus on patient outcomes – not just patient flow.”

He concluded: “To see any real change in hospital discharge, we urgently need better partnership working across health and social care, and greater parity between these important sectors.”

Mr Griffiths expressed disbelief that fax machines and paper-based systems are still being used in 2025, with patient information held on disconnected IT systems.

And Lee Waters, a fellow Labour backbencher, described performance on digital as woeful.

He warned: “Digital Health and Care Wales is behind on progress on all of its major programmes, and is in special measures, and is in complete denial.”

Mr Waters criticised the Welsh Government’s response to digital recommendations for containing “weasel words”, arguing ministers were refusing to mandate best practice.

The former minister said: “The Kremlinologist in me decodes that as, ‘We are not going to do anything different from what we are currently doing’.”        

The Conservatives’ Joel James warned of a lack of consistency leading to wide variation across Wales’ 22 councils and even within health board areas.

Mr James told the Senedd: “It is simply not acceptable that people in Wales face a postcode lottery in the care they receive.”

The former councillor also highlighted the plight of unpaid carers, arguing the entire system would struggle to cope without them plugging gaps in provision.

Plaid Cymru’s Mabon ap Gwynfor echoed concerns about a “divided nation”, calling for a national care service to bring councils and health boards together.

He said: “Regional partnership boards look different in one part of Wales compared to another and operate inconsistently across the nation, something that is contrary to the rhetoric of fairness and dignity in care that the government is so keen to highlight.”

Dawn Bowden, Wales’ minister for social care, welcomed the committee’s report and confirmed the Welsh Government accepted all 18 recommendations. She said £30m has been invested this year to boost council services that support hospital discharge.

Ms Bowden rejected claims that paying the sector the real living wage – a Labour Senedd manifesto pledge – was merely “aspirational”, with 84% of the workforce receiving it.

She insisted the government is “holding regions to account” for delivering best practice and would be meeting partners in the coming weeks to ensure improvements.

Ms Bowden committed to a “rapid review of intermediate care practices” to strengthen reablement efforts and help people stay at home.

In closing, she told the Senedd: “Leaving hospital is not the end of care but the start of recovery, independence and a healthier Wales.”

A MILFORD HAVEN runner has raised more than two thousand pounds for dementia services in Pembrokeshire after completing this year’s Cardiff Half Marathon.

Sam Dolling crossed the finish line on Saturday, October 5, in a time of 1:55:42, smashing his own expectations both on the course and in fundraising. His final total of £2,250 exceeded what he had hoped to achieve.

Sam joked that he had “hounded friends and family via social media” in the run-up to the race – but said the biggest donations came from an unexpected source: friends who still owed him money from a golf trip.

He described the challenge as “rewarding” and said it even helped him stick to a training plan “for the first time ever”.

‘Incredible amount’ raised

Katie Hancock, Fundraising Officer, said: “A big thank you to Sam for choosing to run the Cardiff Half Marathon for Hywel Dda Health Charities and raising money for dementia services in Pembrokeshire, a service that is close to your heart. You raised an incredible amount! Thank you so much for your support and thanks to everyone who sponsored you.

“The support of our local communities enables us to provide services over and above what the NHS can provide in the three counties of Hywel Dda, and we are extremely grateful for every donation we receive.”

For more information about Hywel Dda Health Charities and how to support NHS patients and staff locally, visit their website.