Appraisal group for new hospital site set to meet
25 May 2022
Members of the public will this week join health and care professionals, clinicians, and public sector partners to review potential sites for a new Urgent and Planned Care Hospital somewhere between and including the zone of St Clears to Narberth.
This is the first workshop for the technical appraisal group, which includes a majority representation of members of the public, as well as expert NHS and partnership staff. It takes place on Wednesday 25 May, with the second workshop scheduled for Tuesday 28 June.
This first workshop will agree the process for the appraisal and the importance of each criterion that needs to be considered. The second workshop will score the potential sites – two of which are in the St Clears area, two in the Whitland area, and one in the Narberth area.
The process is being managed with support and advice from The Consultation Institute (opens in new tab), a not-for-profit, independent body, which provides guidance on best practice for engaging with communities.
Lee Davies, Executive Director of Strategic Development & Operational Planning at Hywel Dda UHB, said: “Public representation on this appraisal group is of paramount importance.
“This is why we have spent the past couple of months working hard to identify and contact individuals, groups, and organisations from across the three counties requesting expressions of interest to join the group. This has included writing to more than 200 people who participated in an engagement exercise last year (opens in new tab), who had asked to be kept informed about future engagement activities.
“We have endeavoured to make this technical appraisal group as reflective of the communities we serve as possible, and I look forward to hearing their views.”
Following engagement with members of the public, staff and organisations between March and May 2021, the following areas will be considered, including how to ‘weight’ specific criteria:
- Site Conditions
- Infrastructure, access and active travel
- Environmental and ecology
- Efficiency of design
- Sustainability
- Acquisition and planning
- Transport and accessibility
Hywel Dda University Health Board has undertaken significant engagement with our communities and partners since 2017/18. This appraisal group is just one part of the ongoing process to review and assess potential sites. Other appraisal groups include clinical, workforce and economic/ financial.
This process will eventually lead to recommendations being made by each appraisal group in relation to the possible sites. The final decision about the chosen site will be made by the health board, in agreement with Welsh Government, should they support funding of the hospital.
The health board recently submitted a Programme Business Case (opens in new tab) 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 new Urgent and Planned Care Hospital is one element of an ambitious plan to improve health outcomes and well-being of the people in the Hywel Dda area. The aim is to shift from a service that focuses on illness, hospital buildings and intervention, to a service that works across boundaries to promote wellness and prevents deterioration of health, providing help earlier, and wherever possible closer to home.
The health board’s strategy outlines the long-term vision for future services across Hywel Dda. While this ambitious plan is further developed the health board has published a list of Frequently Asked Questions (opens new tab) to ensure the public are provided with the most up-to-date information.