The secretary of the South East Pembrokeshire Community Health Network (SEPCHN) has emphasised the importance of feedback being given to Tenby residents from consultations taking place on the transformation of local health and hospital services.

Those who attended a recent meeting of SEPCHN heard how the consultations, which start later this month and are set to last for eight weeks, are expected to raise questions around removing one of the four hospitals that the Hywel Dda University Health Board manages.

As the Health Board was already £74 million in deficit, any major changes would have to be met by the Welsh Assembly, and it was discussed that if a new-build was to happen it would take possibly 10 years to complete at a cost of £700m, and plans would have to be implemented for the present services to stay in place.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of Tenby Town Council, SEPCHN secretary, Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas, told her colleagues, that a representative from the Hywel Dda Health Board was due to address the matter locally, had now cancelled, and it was decided to hold just one central meeting discussing the consultations in Haverfordwest.

“I’m not happy with this decision, I wanted someone from the health board to come here and explain the consultations to us,” she told her fellow councillors, urging one of them to join her at the planned meeting.

“A drop-in centre meeting will be held at Regency Hall in Saundersfoot, too, but we must take these meetings seriously and see what the options are.

“If we don’t make our wishes clear for the health services in this area, then they might go ahead and decide to do something that we don’t like!” she continued.

Clr. Paul Rapi said that he had recently attended a presentation given to Plaid Cymru members on the matter, explaining that there were six options on the table from the health board, that would be reduced to three.

“They appreciate that things are wrong, and it’s fascinating what they want to do going forward, and although the final decisions are yet to be made, I’ve got high hopes for it,” he remarked.