Staff and patients have their say on future of health care

14 May 2024

Health Board staff are working with patient representatives and stakeholders to consider support and change for services that are under the most pressure.

The health board is developing a Clinical Services Plan for nine healthcare services in need of support. These services are critical care, emergency general surgery, stroke, endoscopy, radiology, dermatology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics and urology.

To achieve this, the health board is speaking to staff, patients and partner organisations and carrying out different types of workshops. These workshops aim to find out what the issues in the nine service areas are, and to discuss new ideas. The issues and ideas are tested against measures and requirements that are important to communities in the Hywel Dda area.

In Autumn 2023, patients who had used the services included in the Plan during the past five years and staff, were invited to fill out surveys. These surveys allowed patients and staff to share their views about the nine healthcare services.  This has already enabled the health board to write a paper to describe to its Board the issues affecting these services.

The issues paper was presented to the Health Board’s Public Board meeting on 28 March 2024.

People who had expressed an interest, were invited into a clinically led group. There was representation from staff, service users and stakeholders to develop ideas further.

The health board held a workshop – also known as a deliberative event - in April 2024.  At this workshop, members of the group could share their different skills and experiences further and discuss potential options for services in the future. More than 80 people attended.

Mark Henwood, Interim Medical Director said: “As part of the Clinical Services Programme, we want to ensure our patient’s voice is represented. We are fortunate that patient representatives, our staff, including clinicians, and stakeholders, have given their time to input.

“We are engaging with patient representatives from across the three counties, who were invited to take part in these workshops. The patient representatives were invited based on a random selection process to ensure fairness and transparency. More workshops are planned between now and the summer.”

Lee Davies, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning said: “Our clinicians and services will be considering everything we have heard. We are working to develop service options for consideration by the Health Board in its September 2024 meeting. We will keep the public and our staff and stakeholders involved and informed.  If we develop potential options, we will engage with our communities to understand what the impact of any changes would be.'”

Members of the public can keep up to date with the health board’s work on the Clinical Services Plan here (opens in new tab). Anyone wishing to take part in future engagements or ongoing developments can join our engagement scheme Siarad Iechyd/Talking Health here (opens in new tab).