OUTPATIENT appointments will be rescheduled with priority given to the “most urgent” over the new few weeks, Hywel Dda Health Board has announced, as its estimates that at least 10 per cent of its workforce is currently absent with Covid admissions on the rise.

The health board said that along with rescheduling appointments, it will move all urgent cancer surgery - apart from head and neck - to Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli, and is also “standing down some less urgent work in order to redeploy staff where possible.”

The Health Board said: “Health and care services across west Wales are responding to the impacts of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in order to provide emergency and urgent care for patients in the safest way possible during the coming weeks.

“Hywel Dda University Health Board is taking a number of actions and appealing for the continued support of our staff and communities to keep Hywel Dda safe as we face this new phase of the pandemic.

“Actions are being taken in a planned way due to the high demand we are seeing for non-Covid care during this time of the year, together with high incidence of Covid-19 in our area, like the rest of the UK.

“This is starting to result in higher numbers of Covid-19 admissions and incidences in our hospitals and communities.

“It is also having a direct impact on our staffing levels across primary care, community and hospital services.

“We currently estimate that at least 10 per cent of our workforce is absent for both Covid and non-Covid related reasons.

“This figure is higher in some teams and we expect it to rise in the coming weeks.”

Director of Operations Andrew Carruthers said: “The whole of the UK is facing challenge from Omicron and the indirect impact on staffing.

“This is affecting us in Hywel Dda across all our services whether in the community, primary care or hospitals, but to different degrees and is a very fluid situation.

“To ensure the delivery of care for the most critically unwell, and to ensure we protect the ability of our staff to provide this care, we have put in place actions that will provide some extra capacity.

“We apologise to anyone affected adversely by these actions and it remains our ambition, always, to re-establish our planned care services as soon as we are able to.”

Director of Nursing, Quality and Patient Experience Mandy Rayani added: “We are so grateful to our staff who continue to work in difficult circumstances, always driven by the desire to provide the best care possible to our population.

“We are asking our staff to be vigilant about the behaviours we know reduce transmission of Covid-19 at work and at home; and our public can also play a significant role in supporting the NHS and each other by also adhering to these principles.”