THIRTY per cent of GPs in the Hywel Dda Health Board area are expected to retire in five years leaving almost half of surgeries in the area “increasingly fragile and unsustainable”, it has been warned.

The health board said more needs to be done to protect GP services across the board area and Wales as a whole after admitting that the future sustainability of services is under question in a response to an inquiry into the work of GP clusters across Wales.

The Welsh Government’s Health, Social Care and Sport committee has held a study into the work of GP clusters asking health boards and professionals to give their thoughts.

While the health board’s response has said that it is working to create better links between surgeries, pharmacies and other organisations that make up GP clusters, the board has warned there are concerns about how services will be set up in the future.

That includes concerns over the number of GPs set to retire shortly and how they can be replaced, particularly in rural areas such as Hywel Dda.

Statistics suggest that the health board expects around 30 per cent of current GPs to retire in the next five years.

Figures also show that 24 out of 53 surgeries across Hywel Dda have fewer than 7,500 patients registered, with the board saying that means the surgeries are “increasingly fragile and unsustainable”.

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