As the crisis hit, cash-strapped Hywel Dda Health Board looks at plans to close a children’s ward and strip beds from a community hospital in Tregaron while losing millions of pounds each month, it can be revealed that its next Chief Executive will earn more than the Prime Minister.

Hywel Dda University Health Board has been advertising for its new Chief Executive, with applications closing on 24 September.

Professor Philip Kloer became the Health Board’s interim Chief Executive Officer in February after the previous post holder, Steve Moore, took the same role at NHS Devon Integrated Care Board.

While Sir Keir Starmer earns around £167,000 as the head of UK government, the new chief executive of the struggling health board will earn between £201,509 and £217,980 a year when an appointment is made.

Hywel Dda University Health Board is currently running an “unacceptable” deficit, projected currently to be more than £79m, with deficits running at more than £5m each month.

The health board needs to find tens of millions of pounds in savings before next February after a meeting heard that without a cash injection bills would not be able to be paid around that time at current deficit levels.