MS raises concerns about fate of village GP services with First Minister

PLAID Cymru MS Helen Mary Jones has raised the lack of GP services in Trimsaran during First Minister questions at the Senedd.

While Ms Jones was positive overall about the way Hywel Dda University Health Board had handled the Covid-19 crisis, she said she had had some concerns raised with her.

Reacting to a petition started by Trimsaran Plaid’s Carmarthenshire county councillor Kim Broom, Ms Jones said:

“During the pandemic health boards across Wales have had to make changes in the provision of primary care.

“One example is the GP surgery in the village of Trimsaran in the Llanelli constituency that has had to be temporarily closed so space can be used for treating Covid patients if necessary.

“While the community has accepted this, they are concerned because they have to travel now to Kidwelly and the bus services have been cut because of Covid – a perfect storm, but perhaps unavoidable. But there is a suspicion that the health board may use the Covid crisis to permanently close that surgery.

“I raised the concerns directly with First Minister Mark Drakeford last week to ask for reassurances to my constituents in Trimsaran that the Welsh Government does not expect any changes to primary care services made because of the Covid crisis to be extended beyond the pandemic without proper assessment and consultation.”

At the Senedd, Mr Drakeford replied: “Of course, many of the changes that have happened during the pandemic we will want to see continue afterwards, but they need to be properly consulted upon, and they need to be properly understood.

“But the fact we have thousands of video consultations every day, and people no longer having to travel inconvenient distances, we’ll want to preserve those things as well.

“I’ve been asked a number of times to think about having Covid-only hospitals and, therefore, other hospitals that deal with all the non-covid things.

“But when you do that, it’s inevitable, as in Trimsaran, that the things you would normally go to a hospital for will no longer be available to you, and you have to travel an even longer distance to find them.

“So, dealing with the pandemic and trying to keep people safe, and trying to make sure that people who need the health service for non-covid reasons don’t run the risk of contracting the disease is genuinely challenging.”

He added: “As we move beyond the pandemic, I am very keen that we learn the lessons, the astonishing rate of change that the health service has managed to accommodate over the last 12 months.

“Of course, those are things that need to be done in consultation with local populations.”

Jill Paterson, director of primary care, community and long-term care at Hywel Dda University Health Board, said: “The health board has no intention to close Trimsaran as a branch site and we wish to reassure patients and the local community that we will work with the surgery team to agree a timescale to reinstate services at the site, when it is safe to do so.”