![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_Glangwili-Hosp.jpg\")
Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, which opened in the 1940s. Ambitious plans to downgrade it and build a new hospital in Carmarthenshire have seemingly been put on ice(Image: Western Mail)<\/p>\nPlans for a new hospital in Carmarthenshire have been on the table for years but no land has been purchased and no funding secured. So what is happening with healthcare in west Wales?<\/p>\n
16:32, 15 Aug 2025Updated 16:55, 15 Aug 2025<\/p>\n
Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, which opened in the 1940s. Ambitious plans to downgrade it and build a new hospital in Carmarthenshire have seemingly been put on ice(Image: Western Mail)<\/p>\n
Health bosses have admitted they may never be able to afford a new hospital in west Wales almost 20 years after the ambitious plans were first proposed.<\/p>\n
The idea of constructing a new \u2018super-hospital\u2019 in the region was first discussed back in 2006 and in 2018 Hywel Dda University Health Board, which is responsible for healthcare provision across Carmarthenshire<\/a>, Pembrokeshire<\/a>, and Ceredigion<\/a>, officially unveiled its proposals to build the new urgent and planned care hospital to the west of Carmarthen<\/a> in an area near St Clears or Whitland.<\/p>\n The project was estimated to cost more than \u00a31bn in total and would result in the downgrading of Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen and Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest. Stay informed on Carms news by signing up to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The A&E departments at both of those existing hospitals would be shut down with a new A&E department being housed at the new site \u2013 around nine miles from Carmarthen and around 25 miles from Llanelli<\/a>.<\/p>\n We are now seven years on from the launch of the official plans and yet the beginning of construction has never seemed further away. A long list of potential sites for the new hospital was whittled down to three and then two<\/a> \u2013 agricultural land forming part of Ty Newydd Farm on the outskirts of Whitland and a site located less than a mile to the west of St Clears.<\/p>\n But two years on from that decision no land has been purchased. Furthermore no funding has been secured to purchase any land.<\/p>\n There is scepticism among some members of staff at Glangwili Hospital \u2013 a sense that plans for a new hospital have been shelved entirely due to a lack of funds, rendering something once seen as ambitious now impossible.<\/p>\n These concerns are amplified by continuing issues at existing Hywel Dda hospitals. At Glangwili parking continues to prove challenging for staff and visitors alike<\/a> while multiple-hour waits at A&E have become common. Outside emergency ambulances have lined up with patients onboard, creating a backlog of sick people in need of a hospital bed and a shortage of available vehicles able to attend emergencies just a few miles away.<\/p>\n Last year a rugby player was forced to lay injured on a cold and wet pitch<\/a> because it took six hours for an ambulance to arrive in the village of Nantgaredig \u2013 five miles from the hospital.<\/p>\n Further east at Llanelli\u2019s Prince Philip Hospital things have looked similarly bleak. Locals have protested at the health board\u2019s controversial decision to close down a 24-hour minor injuries unit<\/a> \u2013 a service it was promised would be maintained when the A&E department bit the dust around a decade ago.<\/p>\n The closing down of the 24-hour minor injuries unit \u2013 which was reduced to 12 hours between 8am and 8pm \u2013 was only meant to be a six-month temporary measure. However the service will not return to what it once was, it has been confirmed. Instead four options for the unit\u2019s future have been put forward<\/a> with a decision expected next month.<\/p>\n Meanwhile a ward at the Llanelli hospital was told at the end of last year it needed to make several improvements following a surprise inspection<\/a>. In a report Healthcare Inspectorate Wales highlighted fire doors being wedged open, cluttered areas near fire exits, and broken handrails at Bryngolau Ward. The report also recommended a full review of the audit and risk management procedures.<\/p>\n In Pembrokeshire local MS Paul Davies said earlier this summer “enough is enough” regarding uncertainty over Haverfordwest’s Withybush Hospital<\/a>. This was following the initiation of a public consultation \u2013 which runs until the end of August \u2013 looking at possible changes to care provision including the transfer of patients requiring specialist critical care to Glangwili, which is more than 30 miles away.<\/p>\n It all paints an uncertain picture for the future of healthcare provision in west Wales and with no new hospital in sight \u2013 despite one initially being slated for a 2029 opening \u2013 that picture is unlikely to become any clearer in the coming years.<\/p>\n The health board keeps using the word \u201cif\u201d with regards to the new build. Last year the board\u2019s chief executive, Phil Kloer, said: \u201cA new hospital is going to be at least 10 years and maybe longer in arriving\u201d.<\/p>\n Nine months later nothing has happened.<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2_Air-Ambulance-Carmarthen-journal.jpg\")
Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, which has been in operation for more than 75 years (Image: Mike Walters)<\/p>\n![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/16_Prince_Philip_Hospital_PotestJPG.jpg\")
Protesters outside Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli last year (Image: John Myers)<\/p>\n