Senedd Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire Paul Davies has raised the future of St David’s surgery in the Senedd Chamber and called on Wales’ First Minister to join him in standing up for the local community.
Mr Davies explained that around 3,000 patients are going to be dispersed to practices further afield under the Health Board’s current plans, including elderly patients and those with limited travel options.
Mr Davies then asked First Minister Eluned Morgan, who is also the Regional Member for Mid and West Wales, to intervene on behalf of the local community, challenge the local Health Board and help ensure residents can continue to receive GP services in their local community in the future.
Mr Davies said: “It’s wholly unacceptable that residents living in St David’s will have to travel further for vital GP services and so I’m calling on the Welsh Government to use its powers and intervene before it’s too late.
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“The local community is rightly upset and frustrated and it’s vital that the Health Board’s decision is challenged and a better way of delivering primary care services in the area is found.”
“If these plans go ahead, a Welsh city will lose its GP service on this First Minister’s watch and I wanted to give the First Minister the opportunity to work together on behalf of the people of St David’s.
“There should be no stone left unturned in trying to ensure GP services can still be delivered in St David’s and it was disappointing that the First Minister was not willing to work together on the community’s behalf,” he added.
In response, the First Minister, said: “The decision on what happens in relation to how health is organised is one for the Health Board, and there are established procedures for handling proposals for changes to delivery of those local services.
“Buying a building is not just what it’s about. You’ve actually got to staff these places; and attracting people to work in those surgeries, we need to put additional significant sums of money on the table. Part of the reason for handing back that contract was because it was difficult to get people to work in that surgery.
“I know that the plan is to establish and to keep in St Davids a nurse led service, and I think that will be important, in particular for the elderly in that area,” she added.