The First Minister of Wales has praised the work her Welsh Labour Government has done in providing healthcare across mid and west Wales – but admits there is room for improvement.

Eluned Morgan, who has been a regional MS for Mid and West Wales since 2016 and the former health minister, wrote to the Cambrian News this week to highlight the work her government had done on improving healthcare and dentistry in the region following heavy criticism.

She did not however address the concerns over stroke services at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth, which drew more than 400 people to a public meeting last month.

Most political parties were present for that meeting in the Great Hall, but Welsh Labour did not send anyone.

At that meeting, decisions and proposals being put forward by Hywel Dda University Health Board were universally lambasted.

Ms Morgan said: “I’m proud of the work the Welsh Labour Government is doing with the NHS to improve care across Mid and West Wales although we are aware there is always room for improvement.

“Long waiting times are falling, and cancer performance has improved significantly over the last year in Hywel Dda.”

She went on to praise the fact that the children’s ward at Bronglais Hospital has reopened after health chiefs removed impatient overnight beds from Angharad ward for six months due to a lack of nurses

Ms Morgan said: “The children’s service at Bronglais Hospital is fully operational again after six more nurses were recruited to work on Angharad ward.”

She added: “Hywel Dda University Health Board has made some of the best progress in Wales in cutting waiting times – there’s been a 99% reduction in 52-week outpatient numbers and an 86% reduction in people waiting more than two years for treatment over the last 12 months. Responding to the request for support locally and receiving it locally.”

On the issue of people being able to see their local GP, Ms Morgan said: “We’ve changed the GP contract to make it easier to get an appointment, rolled out the NHS Wales app and we’re paying GPs and dentists more to train in West Wales as recruiting to West Wales is more difficult than in many other parts of the country.

“Every month, 218,000 people across the health board area see a GP in their local communities– that’s more than half the population, hardly a health desert!”

She went on to praise free prescriptions saying: “Local pharmacies provide free treatment for almost 30 minor illnesses without an appointment – more than 43,000 people used the service here last year – and high street opticians provide treatment for a wide range of eye conditions, so you don’t have to go to hospital again this is a local service – no health desert here either.”

Finding an NHS dentist in mid and west Wales has become increasingly difficult in recent years. On that issue, Ms Morgan said: “We know that lots of people were struggling to find an NHS dentist so in the past couple of years nearly 43,000 new dental patients have received a full course of treatment since 2022 and a further 22,000 people have had urgent treatment across the region thanks to changes the Welsh Labour Government made to the current dental contract to improve access. Those are people in Mid and West Wales receiving treatment locally. And now we’re working on a new NHS contract, which will put people’s oral health needs first.”

She went to say that her government had funded new equipment such as new MRI scanners at Bronglais along with Cardigan Hospital and Aberaeron Integrated Care Centre.

The First Minister also addressed the decision to close Wales Air Ambulance bases near Caernarfon and Welshpool.

Local campaigners in both areas took their fight to the high court in a bid to protect the two bases and comprehensive coverage for rural Wales.

The appeal was however rejected and the Wales Air Ambulance service is to push ahead with its plans to relocate services to other parts of Wales, arguing that the two sites that are closing were underused.

Speaking on the air ambulance issue, the First Minister said: “We all want the best possible care and the best possible results when we use the NHS.

“And that’s why Hywel Dda University Health Board – like other health boards – regularly looks at how and where it provides clinical services to deliver the best outcomes for people being delivered by health specialists.

“This was also why the NHS Joint Commissioning Committee made the decision to change where the air ambulance is physically based. This will improve the level of service the most seriously injured and sickest people receive, especially at night.

“I will continue to support my constituents if their healthcare falls short of the high standards we rightly expect of our NHS or if something goes wrong, to ensure it can be put right and lessons learned.

“And I will always champion and stand up for the NHS, including its thousands of hard-working staff, in Mid and West Wales.”

Reacting to Ms Morgan’s comments, Plaid Cymru’s Health spokesperson and Dwyfor Meirionnydd MS, Mabon ap Gwynfor, said: “This is sadly typical of this Government’s response, whereby they seem to believe that all is well.

“But the experience of people across this region, from my Constituency in Dwyfor Meirionnydd through Montgomeryshire and Ceredigion is that access to services have diminished , and services have been taken further away.

“We are lucky to have many excellent healthcare workers working beyond what is expected of them doing their best for the people of these communities, but they are over-stretched and facing burn-out.

“Our GPs should be the cornerstone of our health service – the first point of contact for many and rooted in the community, yet they are perennially underfunded meaning that they cannot fund extra GPs, and are suffering from out-date infrastructure.

“Dentists are returning their NHS contracts at a record rate and people are resolving to DIY dental treatment or travelling vast distances. And palliative and end-of-life care is impossible for many to access in their communities.

“I note that the FM didn’t mention the fact that the Dyfi Ward in Tywyn hospital has been closed for several years, that Hywel Dda are consulting on downgrading the Stroke Services at Bronglais or the fact that the Wales Air Ambulance have plans to close both Welshpool and Dinas Dinlle bases in order to centralise services somewhere in the north east.

“Added to this the we have poor transport infrastructure, and difficult travelling conditions form half of the year making it extremely difficult to reach distant services.

“The good news is that none of this is inevitable and it is fixable.

“The Government needs to ensure that the limited resources are targeted properly, ensuring more funds go to the primary sector, allowing GPs to employ more and work more efficiently, working with people in the community on preventative programmes leading to less admissions so that we have a genuine health service and not the current Illness service that this Government are running.”