Llandysul will temporarily lose its out-of-hours GP, with patients instead having to travel to Carmarthen for face-to-face appointments after midnight.

Hywel Dda Health Board has admitted that patients will be forced to travel from the Llandysul area as they are moving the out-of-hours GP from Llandysul to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, but the head of the service has played down the impact on Llandysul residents, claiming it will be “minimal”.

The health board will also close the overnight out-of-hours Llanelli base as part of the changes.

The board claims it is intended to ensure that weekend clinical shifts are covered.

Dr Richard Archer, an out-of-hours GP and clinical lead for the service, said: “It’s been well publicised that for some time now we have struggled to provide a robust out-of-hours service in all three counties due to difficulties filling the rotas.

“Where no clinical cover has been available at all, we’ve had to temporarily close bases and redirect patients to A&E, which puts further pressure on our emergency services as it isn’t always the most appropriate place for them to go.

“By bringing about these temporary changes we hope to be able to provide more telephone consultations and more of an overnight GP presence in Llanelli and Carmarthen.

“We recognise that this does mean some patients living in Llandysul and the surrounding area will need to travel to Glangwili if they are given a face-to-face appointment after midnight and I would like to apologise for any frustrations or inconvenience that this may cause.

“We know we typically experience far less out-of-hours activity in Llandysul during the overnight period than elsewhere and we expect the impact of these changes to be minimal."

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