‘Temporary’ changes to Ceredigion’s non-urgent mental health referrals have been made permanent by Hywel Dda University Health Board.

In March last year, the health board implemented special measures after it was found that the number of staff vacancies put patients at risk.

From then, non-urgent mental health referrals from GPs no longer went straight to the community mental health team, in which typical waits could be up to 28 days.

Instead, the patients are instructed by their GP to call 111 option 2 for a telephone assessment with a wellbeing practitioner, supervised by a registered mental health nurse.

At its November 2025 meeting, Hywel Dda University Health Board agreed to extend the ‘temporary referral pathway’ in Ceredigion until the end of March this year.

The Board also approved a nine-week engagement process that ran from 8 December 2025 to 9 February this year.

At a meeting on 26 March, moves to make the change permanent were approved by health board members, who said the decision “follows evidence demonstrating that the temporary introduction of this pathway in Ceredigion has been implemented safely since March 2025 and patients are receiving more timely and appropriate care.”

The changes will also now be phased in across Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.

Liz Carroll, Service Director for Mental Health and Learning Disabilities at Hywel Dda University Health Board said: “Our priority is to ensure safe and efficient access to mental health care and ensure that all patients receive the support they need, when they need it.

“In Ceredigion, the pathway was temporarily changed as an emergency measure because of significant shortages of nursing and medical staff in the community mental health team.

“Making this change permanent will mean more adults needing non-urgent mental health support will access support much quicker through the NHS 111 Wales Press 2 service.”