A call has been made for a shake-up of health services in Tenby.

A very well attended meeting of the South East Pembrokeshire Community Health Network (SEPCHN) held recently at New Hedges Village Hall heard calls for a more integrated approach to health services and for more to be delivered locally rather than in remote hospitals.

Chair of SEPCHN, Cllr Laurence Blackhall explained to members that the schedule of meetings for the coming year included a special session on ideas for creating a ‘health and wellbeing hub’ in Tenby.

Local Health campaigner and former Chair of SEPCHN, Mansell Thomas said it was essential that more services were delivered in Tenby and that there was better co-ordination.

John Evans, County Manager of the Hywel Dda University Health Board provided an update on the progress of the plans for a new hospital on a site yet to be determined in either Whitland or St Clears.

He explained that any plans would require more local services to be developed.

A spokesperson for the Health Board said recently: “We have taken our land selection process as far as we can at this stage. There is an established process before any funding will be allocated to the health board for land purchase and building works.

“The next stage will be an outline business case, at which point - if supported by Welsh Government - the health board would seek to secure the land for the hospital.

“It is currently anticipated that the final choice of site will form part of the outline business case process.”

The meeting also had an update on work to manage the problems caused by RAAC concrete damage at Withybush Hospital.

Bed capacity had returned to normal and all inpatient areas were now completed, with some works to continue in outpatient areas.

During an update about dental care, members complained about the number of dentists stopping taking on NHS work.

Health Board representatives explained that they were working hard to let new NHS dentistry contracts as soon as possible.

They also explained that in the event of an emergency, patients should ring 111 and go trough the triage process to get treatment.

Members also discussed the way that SEPCHN operated and agreed to remain as an open forum where anyone could raise issues about health services.

The next meeting of SEPCHN will be on October 22, with discussions set to focus on Social Care services.