A PUBLIC meeting has been arranged for Neyland residents to protest about the proposed closure of St Clement’s Surgery.

Argyle Medical Group has submitted an application to Hywel Dda Local Health Board to close the Branch Surgery at St. Clements Neyland.

It says this action to be the only option to enable a safe level of clinical care to be offered to all its registered patients at a time “when recruitment and retention of clinical staff is extremely challenging.”

Cllr Hancock said: “A public meeting will be held at Neyland Athletic Club next Thursday 25 January at 7pm to protest against the proposed closure of St. Clement’s Surgery.

He added: “It cannot be allowed to happen!”

Argyle Medical said on its Facebook page: “The reason for this application is to consolidate & maintain patient care services at a time of reduced GP numbers at the practice. Despite concerted attempts at GP recruitment over recent years the practice has been unsuccessful. The practice has been successful in recruiting a further Nurse & Pharmacy practitioner & is continuing to try to recruit further such practitioners.

“The practice plans to increase its capacity to deal with urgent medical problems by offering increased clinical practitioner appointments. These practitioners will be backed up by a GP to provide immediate advice as needed. It is planned this service will be provided from Argyle Surgery, Pembroke Dock alone.

“Argyle Medical Group will continue to provide the full range General Medical Services to its registered patients in Neyland and the surrounding area. In order to facilitate the enhanced same-day service at Argyle Surgery it is proposed that appointments at St. Oswald’s Surgery, Pembroke will change from a same day to a pre-booked appointment system.”

Stephen Crabb MP said “This is hugely disappointing news that St Clements Surgery feel the need to close due to a failure to recruit.

“Pembrokeshire is a fantastic place to live and work and more should have been done by the Hywel Dda University Health Board and the Welsh Government, who hold power over the NHS in Wales, to ensure that St Clements Surgery had staff in place to remain open.

“The Welsh Labour Government have known about recruitment problems in rural practices for a long time and have failed to come up with a strategy.

“The Welsh NHS, Pembrokeshire and the people of Neyland deserve better than this.

“I will speak to the local Assembly Member Paul Davies to ensure that this matter is raised urgently in Cardiff.”

Local Assembly Member Paul Davies said: “This news will come as a shock to the people of Neyland, many of whom have been patients at the St Clements practice for some time. It’s deeply disappointing that as a result of a lack of GPs, Argyle has decided to close the surgery.

“As a result of this announcement, patients from Neyland will now have to travel to Pembroke Dock for essential services and treatment and this will cause huge problems for patients without transport or with limited mobility.”

“The recruitment of health professionals has long been a problem in west Wales and my colleagues I have continued to raise this issue. Unfortunately the Welsh Government has not taken this matter seriously enough in the past.

“The Welsh Government must now work with the health board and Argyle Medical Group to find a more sustainable solution that meets the needs of the local community in Neyland. I will of course, be raising this matter with the Welsh Government, requesting that this situation is addressed as a matter of urgency and a wider strategy is developed to deal with recruitment issues in west Wales.”