Hywel Dda Health Board

The Hywel Dda Health Board was formed on 1 October 2009 and provides integrated acute hospitals and community services across the three counties of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion.  Acute inpatient care is delivered from four sites:   West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen; Withybush General Hospital, Haverfordwest; Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli and Bronglais General Hospital, Aberystwyth.

Hospitals where services are provided

West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen
West Wales General Hospital is the largest acute district general hospital in South West Wales, incorporating 330 beds. The hospital provides many inpatient services for patients in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, as well as Carmarthenshire.

In addition to Accident & Emergency Medicine, consultant staff in the following specialities are based at the Hospital:

There are visiting Consultants in Paediatric Cardiology, Paediatric Neurology, Paediatric Urology, Genito-Urinary Medicine, Clinical Oncology, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Mental Illness and Oral Surgery.

The facilities in the hospital include:

• 6 bedded Intensive Care and a 6 bedded High Dependency Unit.
• 6 bedded Cardiac Care and Pacing Unit
• Colposcopy Suite
• X-ray (including C.A.T. Scanner, mammography facilities, and Digital Vascular Imaging).
• Six Theatres (including dedicated theatres for Ophthalmic and Obstetric and a Laminar Flow Theatre)
• Renal Dialysis Unit
• Cardiology and Physiological Measurement Department
• Day Surgical Facilities with 23 beds, a dedicated theatre and endoscopy facilities (including a Video-Endoscopy Unit with a full range of therapeutic and diagnostic endoscopies for upper and lower G.I. endoscopy, together with urology).

Major structural repairs have taken place at the hospital during the last 7 years and this has resulted in all ward areas being upgraded as well as improvements to many other departments within the Hospital complex.  A new Accident & Emergency Department  and Cardiac & Renal Centre has recently opened.

Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli
This is a busy, modern, well-equipped District General Hospital, built on the nucleus design and opened in May 1990.  There are 239 acute and elective beds encompassing the following specialties:

• General Medicine
• Coronary Care Unit
• General Surgery
• Urology
• Orthopaedics
• I.T.U. & H.D.U
• A Central Treatment Suite with provision for a maximum of 40 patients incorporating a surgical day case theatre and endoscopic suite
• Out-patient department
• MRI scanner
• There are 6 Physicians whose interests include Cardiology, Respiratory Medicine, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology and Care of the Elderly;  General Surgeons with Vascular, Upper GI, Breast and Colo-rectal interests; A & E Consultant, Community Paediatrician, 2 Histopathologists, Microbiologist, Haematologist, 3 Radiologists and 6 Consultant Anaesthetists.

Clinics are also held in Psychogeriatrics, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Dermatology, ENT, Oncology & Radiotherapy, GUM, Sexual Health, Mental Illness, Oral Surgery, Orthodontics, Rheumatology and Chemical Pathology.

Children’s clinics are presently held at various sites.   The Elizabeth Williams Clinic in Llanelli has been developed to provide a base for Children’s health Services in Llanelli and includes clinical and office accommodation

Withybush General Hospital, Haverfordwest
Withybush General Hospital is a modern 347 bedded hospital which opened in 1979 and is situated approximately 1 mile from the town centre of Haverfordwest.

Consultants in the following specialties are based at the hospital:

In addition to this the following visiting specialties have outpatient sessions at the hospital:

ENT, Mental Illness, Maxillo-facial surgery, Ophthalmology, Radiotherapy, Oncology, Genito-Urinary Medcine, Plastic Surgery and Medical Genetics.

The hospital has 6 operating theatres in total and there is a three-bedded Intensive Therapy Unit for adults in the hospital.  There is a Special Care Baby Unit with 7 cots.  Ward 10 provides oncology and palliative care beds and also houses a small day care chemotherapy unit.

There is a modern, well-equipped pathology department with individual departments of histopathology including cytology, haematology, blood transfusion, clinical chemistry and microbiology.  The Department of Physiological Measurement provides cardiac and respiratory function investigations, neurophysiology and audiology.  The hospital also has a well-equipped 4-room radio-diagnostic department with a gamma camera and CAT scanner.

Bronglais General Hospital, Aberystwyth
Bronglais General Hospital, is located in the university town of Aberystwyth and provides in-patient and out-patient facilities for the Ceredigion and adjacent parts of South Gwynedd and North Powys. There are three community hospitals in Ceredigion (Aberaeron, Tregaron and Cardigan) with two (Tregaron and Cardigan) providing in-patient services. The in-patient services are supported by excellent community services.

Bronglais General Hospital is a district general hospital with 177 beds.  It serves a catchment population of approximately 90,000 and there is a substantial increase in the summer months due to the influx of holiday-makers.  All main clinical specialities are catered for, and the number of consultants based in the hospital is as follows:

In addition, there are visiting consultants in ENT; Paediatric Cardiology; Dermatology; Rheumatology; Radiotherapy; Neurology; Oral Surgery; Neuro-Surgery and Spinal Surgery. There is an Acute Psychiatric Unit and an Elderly Mentally Ill Assessment Unit on the hospital site.