It could be 10 years or more before a much-anticipated new hospital for West Wales, serving the people of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire is built - a meeting updating members of Hywel Dda University Health Board on latest developments has heard.
The November 28 meeting heard from chief executive Philip Kloer during a discussion about a strategy to help create a healthier Mid and West Wales.
Two possible sites in Whitland and St Clears have been earmarked for the facility, with an original strategy published back in 2018 outlining that construction of a new hospital could be completed by 2029, with plans to repurpose Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest and Carmarthen’s Glangwili General Hospital.
The Health Board had previously called to the Welsh Government for a £1.3bn investment to implement the changes.
However, a report presented by the Health Board has pointed towards costs of delivering the original strategy increasing due to inflation.
“You have to accept that when you’re at the business stage process that we’re at, then the new hospital is going to be at least 10 years, and maybe longer, in arriving. And so that means that our planning cannot be based on a new hospital being there,” remarked Mr Kloer.
Commenting on the news, Senedd Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Samuel Kurtz said: “How many years, and how many times, have our communities been marched up and down the mountain with promises of a new hospital in West Wales?