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We want to help you make decisions about when you may need healthcare for a child or young person under 16.

In spring 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to move the daytime children’s unit (Paediatric Ambulatory Care Unit) and its specialist staff at Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest, to Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen.

This temporary measure means children with serious illnesses or injuries need to be seen at Glangwili Hospital, which has a co-located emergency department and children’s hospital services. Withybush Hospital can still only treat children with minor injuries (such as sprains, cuts, or minor burns) or booked outpatient appointments.

Please note these changes effect children’s services at Withybush Hospital only and adult services at the hospital remain the same. Paediatric services at Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, remain the same. There is no change to Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli.

More children, especially vulnerable toddlers, may get ill from respiratory viruses this autumn (2021) because we are mixing more. This guide will help you access the right care as quickly as possible when needed.

• Call 999 if your child has serious injuries or a life-threatening illness, including severe difficulty or irregular breathing, blueness around the lips, is pale, mottled and abnormally cold, has a fit or seizure, is extremely distressed, is very lethargic or unresponsive, develops a rash that does not disappear with pressure, or has testicular pain.
• Go to a Minor Injury Unit (24/7 at Withybush Hospital; weekdays, daytime only at Tenby Hospital and Cardigan Integrated Care Centre) if your child has minor wounds, minor burns or scalds, insect bites, potential broken bones if not badly misshaped, minor head or face injuries, or foreign bodies in the nose or ear.
• Contact your GP today if your child has an illness that won’t go away, indicated for example by a high temperature, shivering, muscle pain, cough, wheezing, increased effort to breath,  persistent vomiting/diarrhoea/severe tummy pain, blood in their poo or wee, or dehydration.
• Call NHS 111 Wales (24/7) for urgent advice if you are unsure what to do. Call 111 for urgent help when your usual GP surgery, or other primary care service, is closed. You may be asked to take your child to Glangwili Hospital Emergency Department if input from specialist children’s doctors is required.
• Treat at home or contact your pharmacist if your child has a minor illness or ailment such as a sore throat, cough, skin irritation, or if a young person needs emergency contraception. You can get help online by searching ‘NHS 111 Wales symptom checker’. Some pharmacies offer treatment without appointment for low level injuries.

If you are deaf or speech-impaired you can access 999 services using the Relay UK app and dialling 999, or NHS 111 by dialling 18001 111.

Useful information

For more information about non-emergency transport support if you are unable to travel for medical reasons, or if you are eligible for support with costs click here (opens in new tab).

One parent/carer can stay with a child admitted to hospital. Where there is a need, you can ask the ward sister for support with accommodation, and if you have difficulty returning home.

If you have an experience of children’s services you wish to share with us, search our website for ‘patient survey’ or ‘complaints’, email us at hdhb.patientsupportservices@wales.nhs.uk or call 0300 0200 159

We will engage with our communities about the future of children’s services in 2022, but if you want to share your views at this point please; email: hyweldda.Engagement@wales.nhs.uk; write to: FREEPOST HYWEL DDA HEALTH BOARD (you will not need a stamp) or call: 01554 899 056 (this telephone number is not staffed, but messages will be recorded).