Hywel Dda UHB announces next steps for the New Hospital Site Consultation

Hywel Dda University Health Board has received the final independent report from Opinion Research Services (ORS) following the end of its 12-week public consultation on the potential sites for a new urgent and planned care hospital in the south of the Hywel Dda region.

Held between the 23 February and 19 May 2023, the consultation invited the public, health board staff, partner organisations, and the wider community to share their views. Respondents considered three potential site options for a proposed new urgent and emergency care hospital; two located near Whitland and one near St Clears.

Last year, the health board submitted ambitious plans to the Welsh Government, which if successful, could result in around £1.3billion investment into health and care in mid and west Wales.

Lee Davies, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning for Hywel Dda University Health Board, said: “Following our 2018 consultation with communities and staff our vision was developed to bring as much care as possible closer to people’s homes.”

“With plans for a series of integrated health and care centres across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire, this new hospital will be a pivotal piece in enhancing specialist care services in Hywel Dda and will provide a sustainable hospital model fit for future generations. ”

“This approach is intended to address some long-standing challenges including ageing hospital buildings, maintaining clinical rotas across multiple sites, and challenges with staff recruitment and retention.”

Opinion Research Services (ORS) was commissioned to independently advise, collate, and manage the consultation responses. Their comprehensive report on the consultation findings is now available for review on the health board’s website: https://hduhb.nhs.wales/about-us/healthier-mid-and-west-wales/. The consultation process for the selection of a site for the new hospital has achieved a Best Practice Quality Assurance from the Consultation institute.

As part of the formal consultation process, a number of health board stakeholder groups were asked to conscientiously consider the ORS report. In doing so, they were asked if there were any further mitigations the health board should be considering, if the report has identified all equality issues, and any final points that had not already been captured.

The ORS final report, together with the output of the conscientious consideration process, and the technical and commercial reports, will be considered at an extraordinary meeting of the Board at 10:30am on 14 September. During the meeting, Board members will be asked to consider the key findings from the ORS report and will also be asked to consider reducing the short list of sites for the new urgent and planned care hospital from three sites to two, and to decide upon the two sites to take forward.

The extraordinary meeting of the board is available for public viewing, details of how to do so can be found on the health board’s website: https://hduhb.nhs.wales/about-us/your-health-board/board-meetings-2023/  The Board papers that will be discussed at the meeting, which will include further technical information relating to the three sites, are also available at the same link.

The health board would like to thank the community, staff, partner organisations and everyone that took the time to meet with and share their views during this consultation process. The Board looks forward to the next steps in the consultation process as it considers all the feedback received.

For further information on the consultation, please visit the health board’s website: New hospital site – Hywel Dda University Health Board (nhs.wales)