A Welsh health board has said it will look at “more than 100 alternative ideas” as it makes key decisions on the future of the services it can provide. Bosses at Hywel Dda University Health Board, which manages healthcare provision across Carmarthenshire , Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion , will work alongside staff, stakeholders, and patient representatives to examine different proposals for nine local healthcare services following the conclusion of a public consultation. That consultation asked for people’s views on what’s known as the clinical services plan, which presents options for the future of critical care, dermatology, emergency general surgery, endoscopy, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, stroke, radiology, and urology services. Hywel Dda, together with independent research firm Opinion Research Services, is currently analysing approximately 4,000 questionnaire responses alongside feedback gathered from public events and engagement sessions. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter . This includes people’s views on the impacts of options put forward in the consultation, which options they think best deal with the challenges services face, and new ideas shared. The health board itself has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks and months as the future of healthcare provision in the three Hywel Dda counties continues to look uncertain. Last week a decision was officially made not to reinstate a 24-hour minor injuries unit at Llanelli’s Prince Philip Hospital. The unit had operated around the clock seven days a week before health bosses decided to operate it on a 12-hour basis last November initially for a six-month period only. However, as many locals in Llanelli predicted, the unit will not return to its 24-hour status. Instead a 12-hour urgent care treatment centre will be established at the hospital . Meanwhile the much-mooted construction of a new hospital on land near St Clears or Whitland in west Carmarthenshire appears to be off the table at least for the foreseeable future . With regards to the consultation on the clinical services plan Hywel Dda’s medical director Mark Henwood said: “We have been really pleased with levels of engagement in the consultation from our communities. “This has presented to us new ideas which we need to explore and to do justice will need to go through the same thorough process as options presented in the consultation.” While the health board is set to discuss feedback from the consultation in its November meeting an extraordinary board meeting to make decisions on the future of the nine services will be held in February next year. A consultation report is scheduled for publication in January 2026 ahead of the board making its decision. The initial work in reviewing ideas involves assessing if they meet certain criteria known as hurdle criteria. For this consultation the hurdle criteria stipulate that potential options should be clinically sustainable, deliverable, accessible, aligned or at least not opposed to the health board’s long-term strategy, and financially sustainable. A group comprising staff, stakeholders, and patient representatives will provide insight into the possible accessibility impacts of these ideas such as what they might mean for patients and communities accessing care. Subsequently an options development group will score options that meet the hurdle criteria to help assess an option’s strengths and weaknesses. Mr Henwood added: “We cannot speculate at this stage on which ideas will become options but the whole consultation process is both challenging and supporting work done to date and ensuring we have a range of strong options for the future.”
Original source: gb