02-08-2025
Powys health chiefs to keep eye on West Wales NHS shake-up
Powys health chiefs are keeping a close eye on the results of a consultation being held on the future of NHS services in West Wales.
At a meeting of Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) on Wednesday, July 30, members asked when would the outcome of Hywel Dda University Health Board's consultation be made public.
The consultation on its Clinical Services Plan runs until the end of August.
Independent member and Powys County Councillor Chris Walsh (Labour) asked if the potential changes proposed by Hywel Dda would 'influence any scenarios' that PTHB is considering in its own 'Better Together' transformation programme.
PTHB chief executive Hayley Thomas said: 'There will be a process that Hywel Dda need to undertake to take on board all of the insight they have gained through the engagement and consultation processes that they have had.
This would be brought to the PTHB board for consideration.
Ms Thomas said: 'That will probably take them a couple of months to do after the closure of the consultation.
'Currently the time scale for reporting on the plan that Hywel Dda have set, is its November board (meeting) that will be subject to the volume and scale of responses that they need to analyse.
'Understanding the changes to neighbouring health board plans and what does that mean in terms of pathways of care for our population in Powys is something we have to manage.'
She told members that regular 'strategic change report' will be brought in front of the board's planning committee to evaluate all of the proposed changes to health services around the county's borders.
Ms Thomas said: 'These are options at the moment. We are not able to build a preferred option into our thinking and how we would need to adapt our service model in Powys.'
Hywel Dda is consulting on proposed changes across nine service areas which are: critical care, dermatology, emergency general surgery, endoscopy, ophthalmology, elective orthopaedics, radiology, stroke, and urology.
The issue has already been discussed by Powys County Council.
At a meeting in March, councillors voted to support a motion to protect health services at the only district general hospital serving Mid Wales.
Councillors fear that Hywel Dda will downgrade the stroke unit at Bronglais hospital in Aberystwyth to a 'treat and transfer' unit.
This would mean that some patient rehabilitation for residents in the west of Powys could take place at other hospitals, potentially hours away in Llanelli or Haverfordwest.
