Decision made on future of St David's GP Surgery
July 25 2024
Meanwhile ongoing work will continue on establishing a branch surgery in St David’s providing nurse-led services for part of the week for those patients transferring to nearby Solva Surgery.
This follows the decision of the one GP who runs the Surgery to resign his General Medical Services Contract, which takes effect from 31 October 2024.
The decision was made at a meeting of the Health Board today, Thursday, 25 July following an extensive period of engagement with patients at the practice and Llais, the patient’s voice organisation for Wales.
Following the decision, Jill Paterson, Director of Primary Care, Community and Long-Term Care, at Hywel Dda University Health Board said: “We recognise the strength of feeling in the community and the value which the community attach to retaining services as locally as possible.
“While the Board has decided that the best option to secure stable and sustainable services is to transfer the patients to other neighbouring practices, the Board also recognised that a branch surgery should be established in St David’s to address the concerns of those patients transferring to Solva Surgery who are concerned about travelling for appointments.
“The vast majority of patients including all those living in St David’s will be transferred to Solva Surgery at the end of October.
“This represents an important step on the route to establishing a single Practice for the Peninsula, and reflects the ambition of the Peninsula Stakeholders Group which includes representatives from St David’s City Council and Solva and Llanrhian Community Councils.
“The Health Board is grateful for the ongoing contributions of local representatives and other stakeholders to the longer-term vision of a single Peninsula Practice for the wider community.
“We would like to thank Dr Stephen Riley and his team and for the care that they have provided over the years. We very much appreciate the continuing support given by the Community to the team at St David’s Surgery throughout this challenging period.”
Ms Paterson explained that a Panel met twice during the process to consider the available options, both before and after the engagement period.
“After carefully considering all feedback, the Panel supported a recommendation whereby patients of St David’s Surgery would be allocated to another GP practice closest to their home address,” Ms Paterson said.
“For the vast majority of patients this will mean transferring to the neighbouring Solva Surgery, which is a Health Board Managed Practice, with those patients living closer to Fishguard and Haverfordwest being allocated to practices at those locations.
“St David’s staff will be transferring over to Solva Surgery and we will be making internal alterations to the building to ensure it can accommodate the additional patients and staff.
“We feel that this solution will be achievable by the beginning of November when the contract terminates and would allow for a safe, sustainable and secure model to be established for the future.”
Ms Paterson continued: “We understand local people will want to know what the future of their GP services will look like, and we will be writing to all patients and stakeholders to inform them of the outcome and to share details and services for their new practice.