A HEALTH council in Ceredigion has been “given assurances” that plans for a new hospital in Pembrokeshire will not impact on planned care in the county.

Five potential sites for a new hospital in a zone including and between Narberth and St Clears in Pembrokeshire have been identified by Hywel Dda Health Board as plans for the new facility gather pace.

Earlier this year, the health board submitted a Programme Business Case to the Welsh Government to deliver the ambitions of the Healthier Mid and West Wales strategy and secure a scale of investment never before seen in west Wales.

The plan includes a new Urgent and Planned Care Hospital, “providing an architectural separation of emergency and planned medical care, which would avoid the risk of emergency activity impacting on planned care through cancelled operations.”

Cllr Elizabeth Evans, a Ceredigion Council representative on the Ceredigion Community Health Council and the current Chair, told the Cambrian News that the “project in the main is about consolidating services currently provided in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, and we have been given the assurance that this will not impact on planned care in Ceredigion.”

“Our priority is to ensure that the needs of patients are afforded every consideration in the planning process of this proposed new hospital, including ease of access for patients,” she said.

“Wherever the hospital is located, it is crucial that patients in West Wales can also benefit from 21st century hospital facilities and services which are already afforded patients in more populous parts of Wales.

“The location is clearly yet to be decided and the full business case to secure Welsh Government funding will need to be made.

“As a CHC we constantly scrutinise service changes on behalf of patients and will continue to do so.”