We have a shared vision with our communities for us to live healthy, joyful lives. We recognise that our health services, as they are currently organised, will not effectively deliver that vision and we describe some of the challenges below.
We have been talking to you with regular engagement about the future of health and care services since 2017 and we consulted with you in 2018, the consultation was called Our Big NHS Change and you can find out more about it here (opens in new window).
In the 2018 consultation, we asked you about community and hospital-based care. We learnt that receiving care and support where you need it is important and this should be as local as possible, although you understand there are times when you have to travel for care. We also heard that you are concerned about travel and transport, and how you will get to and access health services in the future. This is mainly due to our geography and areas of remoteness, but also links to how we use technology.
We listened and the outcome was our long-term health and care strategy, A Healthier Mid and West Wales: Our Future Generations Living Well, published in 2019.
You can read the strategy here (opens in new window). The overall ambition of our strategy is to shift from a service that just treats illness to one that keeps people well, prevents ill-health or worsening of ill-health, and provides any help you need early on (i.e. a wellness system).
This involves work in our communities to provide more joined-up support and care as close to home as possible. For example, we are developing plans to offer community facilities across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire where you can receive tests, care and treatment and appointments. Some of these will have overnight beds, such as in Amman Valley, Cylch Caron (Tregaron), Llandovery, and South Pembrokeshire, and some will not, such as Aberaeron and Cardigan (already delivered), Carmarthen, Cross Hands, Fishguard, Haverfordwest, Lampeter, Llandysul, Milford Haven, Narberth, Neyland, Pentre Awel, Llanelli, and Tenby.
This will ensure that you can continue to receive your care mostly in your own home and local community, or from a local hospital that is close to home. You would also come back to these local facilities and services, or your own home, more quickly after a stay in hospital. Our aim is for people to need only a short stay in the Urgent and Planned Care Hospital (up to 72 hours), with community-based care to support them. To become a wellness system, we need to provide quality specialist care that cannot be provided elsewhere in our communities, in fit-for-purpose hospitals.