There was hope that a new hospital in Carmarthenshire would be ready to open within the next four years, but ambitious plans seem dead in the water, at least for now, leading to calls for fresh investment in an existing hospital which has seen better days
15:45, 27 Aug 2025Updated 17:36, 27 Aug 2025
Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen (Image: Mike Walters)
With much-publicised plans for a new £1bn-plus hospital in Carmarthenshire now in severe doubt, calls are being made for millions of pounds to instead be invested in the county’s biggest existing hospital.
Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen first opened almost three quarters of a century ago and parts of what is the largest hospital in west Wales have noticeably begun to look their age in recent years. A perceived lack of investment to improve certain aspects of Glangwili has been offset by ambitious plans to reshape healthcare provision across not just Carmarthenshire but Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion as well.
Those plans would have seen Glangwili Hospital, along with Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, being downgraded, with no accident and emergency (A&E) departments at either site. With no A&E unit at Llanelli’s Prince Philip Hospital, this would mean the only A&E in the southern section of the Hywel Dda University Health Board region – excluding Aberystwyth – would be housed at a new hospital in the St Clears or Whitland area. Stay informed on Carms news by signing up to our newsletter here.
But after plans were first outlined in detail back in 2018, no land has been purchased and health board staff have admitted that they doubt if a new hospital will be built at all, and even if it is it is likely to be years in the future.
With that in mind, the health board needs to invest in its existing hospitals, including Glangwili Hospital, according to local councillors who have expressed concern about the standard of parts of the building.
“The new hospital plan was first announced in 2017. Alternative sites have already been identified near St clears and Whitland,” said Carmarthenshire councillor Peter Hughes Griffiths. “But years later nothing has happened, except for growing clinical demand and deterioration in the fabric of the present hospital buildings. Therefore, there’s an urgent need to go ahead with investment at Glangwili.”
Councillor Alun Lenny remembers being at the hospital as a young child in the 1950s. “I recall being taken in my mother’s arms to visit my grandfather in one of the old World War II Nissen huts which housed hospital wards on the Glangwili site in the 1950s,” he said.
“A few years later, I was amongst the primary school children bused in to cheer the Queen Mother when she opened the new state-of-the-art West Wales General Hospital, which replaced the huts and in due course the Priory Street Infirmary. The second half of the 20th century saw major hospital developments. But no more.
“While it’s great that several new clinics have been opened at Glangwili in recent years, most of the general wards are seriously showing their age and need substantial renovation as soon as possible.”
The health board has launched a public consultation (The Clinical Services Plan) where people can share their views about how nine healthcare services could be delivered in hospitals and community facilities across the region – that consultation closes this weekend on Sunday, August 31.
Councillor Russell Sparks said he thinks Glangwili’s central location within the wider county of Carmarthenshire makes it a key site for healthcare provision moving forward.
He said: “The main thrust of the public consultation points towards Glangwili providing more acute and emergency care. In our view this is a sensible option due to the hospital’s central location serving a large rural hinterland.
“The intensive care unit (ICU) at Glangwili is already under huge pressure, so we support the option of developing another enhanced care unit (ECU) at the hospital within the next two years, so that the ICU can focus on the sickest patients. We also support the option to base a team of emergency general surgery consultant surgeons at Glangwili.”
Meanwhile, councillor Gareth John, who was previously an elected member of Hywel Dda, said: “We strongly support the health board’s call for large scale investment in integrating health and care community facilities.
“Everyone agrees that health and care services should be available locally and be as specialised as is deemed necessary and feasible. These should be community based as far as possible so that people only go into hospital when they have to.
“The emphasis is moving from medical treatment to a preventative social model of health and care. Further integration of health and social care is needed so that people should receive as many services as possible outside the hospital and be treated and convalesce at home or in settings within their local communities.”
Councillor Emlyn Schiavone thinks that having an ICU in Glangwili, even if it means fewer units across the board, would make treating the most seriously ill people “more sustainable” moving forward.
“We accept that attracting staff is a serious problem, and it’s very alarming that the health board admits that none of their hospitals meet the required quality and safety standards,” he said.
“We agree with them that having fewer ICUs, with a central one at Glangwili, would make the service more sustainable and safer. On a positive note, I’m glad to see that over 400 domestically trained or internationally educated nurses have recently been recruited. Carmarthen offers a wide range of housing, educational and leisure opportunities for nurses and other staff working at Glangwili.”
The health board insists that “no decisions have been made” and that the public should take the opportunity to provide feedback to decision makers.
Hywel Dda’s medical director Mark Henwood said: “In November 2024, the board discussed how we estimated that delivery of a new hospital, if achieved, is likely to be at least 10 years in the future. Major projects such as this take many years to develop and we continue to work with the Welsh Government on the way forward.
“In accepting that a new hospital will not be operational in the near future, we have been considering how we can support fragile services ahead of a new facility and within existing hospital buildings.
“The Clinical Services Plan consultation considers nine healthcare services that are at risk of being able to continue to offer safe, quality services or timely care in the coming years.
“We want to understand what the options would mean for people who access hospital services across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, and we welcome suggestions on new options or alternative ideas.
“No decisions have been made, there are no preferred options, and all feedback will be considered alongside supporting evidence and impact assessments before recommendations are made to the Board later this year.”
“We would like to remind people that there is now under a week left to take part in the public consultation. An additional online event has been arranged to provide an opportunity to ask questions about the Clinical Services Plan tonight (Wednesday 27 August) from 7–8pm.”