Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Pembrokeshire and south Ceredigion patients being treated for Wet Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) are receiving the care they need closer to home thanks to the treatment and clinics provided at Withybush Hospital and Bro Preseli Community Resource Centre. Since April 2016, nearly 1000 patient visits have taken place with close to 500 treatment injections provided by the Wet AMD service at the Bro Preseli Community Care Resource Centre in Crymych. This is in addition to weekly review clinics at Withybush Hospital that see up to 40 patients each week, and monthly clinics that ensure patients receive their clinically prescribed follow up appointments locally and as soon as possible. To further complement this work, the Day Surgical Unit (DSU) at Withybush Hospital can now deliver a minimum of 25 treatment injections per week. Previously, patients would have needed to travel to Amman Valley Hospital in Ammanford for the same treatment. Joe Teape, Deputy Chief Executive and Directo...

More rural communities in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion are to benefit from Bwcabus. The existing area of the award-winning bus service has been extended to a number of new towns and villages including Llanerchaeron, Llanfair Clydogau, Ffarmers and Ffaldybrennin. Tailored to the needs of its passengers, journeys can be pre-booked allowing people to travel between local towns and villages within the zone or connect to the main line bus services to Aberaeron, Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Carmarthen. The service operates from 7am to 7pm Monday to Saturday providing residents with access to healthcare and other key local services, employment and training opportunities and to see family and friends. Bwcabus also has a number of fixed routes that operate on certain days. The new changes came into effect from February 6. Bwcabus is a partnership between Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire county councils. The service has been extended as part of the LINC project with funding through the Welsh Gove...

A new service has been launched across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire to help community health staff access medication for palliative care patients. Hywel Dda University Health Board has entered into an agreement with nine community pharmacies to hold specific drug stocks so that community nursing teams can access them more easily. Difficulty in obtaining some of these drugs has previously been raised as an issue but the new agreement means that health workers now have better access to medication in urgent situations, reducing the time taken to find a pharmacy that has the items required. The Palliative Care Medication Service will operate during the normal opening hours of the listed pharmacies. A prescription will still be needed to have the items dispensed. The pharmacies are: CARMARTHENSHIRE Tesco Stores Ltd., Morfa Lane Carmarthen A R & H Davies Ltd 4 Kings Road, Llandovery Asda Stores Ltd., Murray Street, Llanelli CEREDIGION Morrisons Pharmacy, Llanbadarn Fawr,...

Students at Aberystwyth University have created a collection of 19 short films which document different aspects of life in Ceredigion. The films have been produced by second year students on the Creative Documentary module at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies. The five-minute-long films will be shown for the first time in a special screening evening held in the R Gerallt Jones Studio at the Parry-Williams Building on Penglais Campus on Monday 12 December, starting at 6pm. Among the topics covered is a portrait of a young farmer from Llandysul; the history of the Davies family that runs the Commodore Cinema in Aberystwyth, and a look at the work done at the National Library to protect treasures during the Second World War. A number of films were inspired during a bus tour around the county which was organized by Creative Documentary module coordinator, Elin Morse. “One of the key ingredients of a successful documentary film is to have participants from all walks o...

The safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children and adults in Mid and West Wales is the focus of a new website launched this week. The website can be accessed via two addresses - www.cysur.wales and www.cwmpas.wales It has been developed by the regional safeguarding boards for children and adults, CYSUR and CWMPAS. The purpose is to provide an information-sharing hub accessible to members of the public and professional agencies across the whole region – encompassing Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Powys. It also supports the safeguarding boards’ vision of professional agencies working together to promote safety and wellbeing, says Julie Breckon, manager of CYSUR and CWMPAS. “The website can be used by parents and carers, children and young people, adults at risk of harm, teachers, health professionals, police officers, probation officers, youth workers, voluntary agencies, and community members,” she said. “It will provide up to date safeguarding news, information ...

Service users, partners and health care staff recently came together to discuss how improved and more accessible mental health services can be provided across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire in the future. The discussions took place in a workshop setting with a focus on options for developing a new mental health service model in Hywel Dda University Health Board area. The event is the latest step in an ongoing period of engagement to work together and achieve the vision for a modern community mental health service that is accessible 24 hours a day; has no waiting lists; moves away from inpatient hospital admission and treatment to hospitality and ‘time out’, and provides day ‘time out’ and opportunities. The mental health needs of our society have changed significantly over the last decade. Advances in treatment options have seen many people who have previously required hospital care being supported to remain in their communities, supported by their friends and famil...

Students and members of the public in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion are being invited to a careers event in Newcastle Emlyn next week to find out more about the range of careers within Hywel Dda University Health Board – as well as what it’s like to work in the NHS. Approximately 30 health board departments - together with representatives from the University of South Wales and Swansea University - will be represented at the careers fair, which will be held at Newcastle Emlyn Leisure Centre between 9am and 5pm on Thursday 3 November. Staff from the health board’s resourcing department will also be attending and will be available to answer any questions about applying for jobs, while the health board will also be running separate morning and afternoon sessions on how to complete applications forms, interview techniques, and a workshop on what it’s like to be a nurse in the NHS. Lesley Oldale, Future Workforce Officer at Hywel Dda, said: “Hywel Dda wants to highlight the huge range of ca...

The countdown has started to the Carmarthen Journal and Llanelli Star Business Awards for 2017. Details are as follows - CARMARTHEN JOURNAL AND LLANELLI STAR BUSINESS AWARDS 2017 Recognising and celebrating the diverse range of businesses in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN Businesses must work or be registered in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire or Pembrokeshire. Categories are: Retail | Agricultural | Construction | Manufacturing Large Manufacturing Small | Training & Development Tourism and Leisure | Food & Drink | Small Business | Services The event takes place on Friday 20th January 2017 CLICK TO NOMINATE Closing date for this year's nominations is Saturday 26th November 2016. For more information and sponsorship opportunities, contact Zena Laws, business manager at South West Wales Media, on 01792 545585 or email Zena.Laws@swwmedia.co.uk

Press release from Mid Wales Healthcare Collaborative: A series of community events to discuss the progress of new developments in healthcare in Mid Wales will begin in Aberystwyth next month. These events are the Mid Wales Healthcare Collaborative’s third and final round this year and will enable the Mid Wales Healthcare Collaborative to inform residents of the progress that has been made in the last few months. Also the events will provide local people with the opportunity to comment on our work to date. The first event will be held in the Morlan Centre in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion on Friday 11th November, with sessions at 2pm and 6pm to optimise opportunities for local people to attend. This event will provide an opportunity for informal, relaxed discussions around Mental Health Services in the area, In Hospital Services at Bronglais General Hospital, Primary and Community Services as well as Health and Well-being. Representatives of the Collaborative team, local Community Health...

A Ceredigion pharmacy has been recognised for its ongoing commitment to providing appropriate support and consideration to its customers who are carers. Well Pharmacy in Cardigan has become the second pharmacy in the town to be awarded the Investors in Carers bronze level award by Hywel Dda University Health Board. The scheme, originally designed to help GP practices across the Hywel Dda area focus on and improve their carer awareness, is now being rolled out to pharmacies and selected hospital wards across the region. Pennie Muir, Regional Project Support Manager for the Investors in Carers scheme was delighted to award Well Pharmacy with their award: "The work of the pharmacies, GP surgeries and outpatients department in Cardigan means that carers in the area can get some support and help if they need it. “Pharmacies are busy places so it is good to see that the staff at Well Pharmacy are committed to helping carers." For more information about the Investors in Carers sch...

Patients living in north Ceredigion will soon be able to take part in a community-based teledermatology pilot which will allow them to be treated by consultants based over 100 miles away in Cardiff. The Mid Wales Healthcare Collaborative and Hywel Dda University Health Board are pleased to announce the launch of a six-month dermatology pilot, which will allow patients to be seen by consultants without having to travel outside their community. Instead, patients will be seen at one of seven GP practices involved in the pilot, which make up the north Ceredigion cluster. All have been issued with cameras to develop telehealth services across Mid Wales. The images will then be sent on to Cardiff for consultant dermatologists to advise GPs as to how to treat skin conditions. If successful, the scheme – which is currently used in Cardiff and Birmingham – will be further extended across mid Wales and the Hywel Dda University Health Board area. The service potentially allows specialists to com...

Tregaron GP Dr Sion James welcomes Cylch Caron project that will future-proof local health and social services. The new Cylch Caron Integrated Resource Centre will be a community resource centre that will become a central hub for a fully integrated health and social care service for the town and the surrounding area. He said: “The overarching principle laying the foundation for this project is that patients should receive care as close to home as possible. In Tregaron GP Surgery we are already working together with Tregaron Community Hospital and Bryntirion care home to meet the needs of our patients who are living longer and have increasingly complex needs. “At the moment we are making do with the facilities we have but when the Centre is built we will benefit not only from having a modern, purpose-built building but from the added value that comes from working closely across professional boundaries - improved communications that result in a better service for our patients. “The l...

Health staff from across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire were recognised for their achievements over the last year at Hywel Dda University Health Board’s annual general meeting. Chair Bernardine Rees OBE said: “Coming together for this important event has allowed myself and members of the Board to personally thank our staff, and to formally acknowledge their hard work and dedication. “The success of our organisation continues to be built on our staff, many of whom go above and beyond the call of duty every day to provide the very best care for our patients and for that we owe them a debt of gratitude”. The annual meeting also received the Annual Report for 2014/15, together with summary accounts and Annual Quality Statement. The audience, which included staff, partners, stakeholders and members of the public, heard examples of good practice, from new community support services to help people stay healthy, to expanded roles enabling staff to develop further, as well as a...

Patients living in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire will be able to experience greater choice and reduced waiting times for hospital appointments, thanks to the launch of a new central contact centre by Hywel Dda University Health Board. The health board has decided to merge its contact centres in Glangwili, Withybush and Bronglais General Hospitals, to one centralised contact centre based at Prince Phillip Hospital in Llanelli. The contact centre will ensure that outpatient appointments can be arranged at the earliest opportunity – particularly for people who are suspected of having life-threatening conditions, such as cancer. By having a single dedicated telephone number to dial, service users will be able to contact and arrange appointments with ease, ensuring that all outpatient clinic sessions are fully utilised. In addition, patients will be able to request a free ‘call back’ option to avoid having to wait in a queue on the phone. A soft ‘go-live’ session is bein...

Members of Hywel Dda University Health Board's acute and community hospitals’ Leagues of Friends recently came together to celebrate their achievements. The University Health Board's Chair and Chief Executive welcomed the Leagues of Friends to an afternoon tea to thank them for their time and dedication in raising funds to support all hospitals across the Hywel Dda area. There are nine Leagues of Friends supporting the hospitals across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. Each League of Friends is a registered charity and run a variety of fundraising events each year to provide much needed additional equipment and home comforts for the benefit of patients. Our Chair and Chief Executive wanted to take the opportunity to thank members for their continued and substantial dedication and enthusiasm in supporting local healthcare. Mrs Bernardine Rees OBE, Chair of Hywel Dda University Health Board said: "We are extremely pleased to be able to say thank you to the ded...

A new Triage and Treat service is now available at selected pharmacies in Aberaeron, Aberporth, Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Newport. The Triage and Treat service can help you if you have a low level injury rather than having to visit a doctor or an A&E department. The service is provided by a pharmacist or a member of the pharmacy team who has had special training and can be used by visitors, holiday makers and local residents, especially when the GP practice is not open. The types of injuries that can be treated under the service are: Minor abrasions, superficial cuts and wounds  Sprains and strains  Eye complaints such as sand in the eye  Removal of items from the skin such as a splinter or shell  Minor burns including sunburn  When accidents happen or illnesses take hold, Triage and Treat is available, no appointment needed from: Aberporth - Penrhyn Pharmacy, SA43 2EU, 9am–5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am–12.30pm Saturday, 01239 810228  Aberae...

Hywel Dda University Health Board is working with a wide range of organisations and people who provide health and social care to develop more joined up services for local people. The aim is to make sure people get the right care closer to, or within, their own homes whenever possible. In this article, we hear from South Ceredigion Community Physiotherapist Kelly James about the local community physiotherapy service and how it helps local people like 28 year old Darren Williams, from Cardigan. “The purpose of our service is to support patients on their discharge from hospital by providing rapid follow up and support and preventing hospital admissions or untimely admission to residential care through rehabilitation and advice. “We offer rehabilitation including physical activity and education programmes for adults and young people with acute and chronic conditions. Rehabilitation programmes are designed to improve functional ability and minimise the effect of chronic disease and...

Delivering a future programme for the transformation of social care has been discussed by Welsh Government ministers and social care chiefs across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys. The Minister for health and social services Mark Drakeford and chair of the National Social Services Partnership Forum, Gwenda Thomas AM, met the four county senior representatives together with officers from Powys and Hywel Dda University Health Boards and Pembrokeshire and Powys associations of voluntary organisations. They discussed the readiness of the region for the implementation of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014. The Minister and Mrs Thomas emphasised the importance of the Act in providing a statutory basis for the transformation of social care in Wales and the need for strong political and professional leadership during an ongoing programme of change. They endorsed arrangements for delivering such leadership through the Mid and West Wales Health and Social Ca...

Hywel Dda University Health Board is holding a public question and answer session in Aberaeron to explain the changes to GP services in the area to local people. Oxford Street Surgery will close on 31st October 2014 following the retirement of Dr. Price Jones from this practice. All patients registered at the practice will be allocated a new GP provider, close to where they live, and patients will receive letters giving more information next week. The Community Health Council, the Local Medical Committee and other local GPs have all been involved in deciding the best option for the future delivery of general medical services to patients in this area. The University Health Board will also be meeting with locally elected members to explain the changes. Executive Director of Primary Care, Community, Mental Health and Clinical Strategy Dr Phil Kloer said: “The University Health Board feels that it is very important to meet with the patients affected by these changes to ensure all of their...

Hywel Dda Health Charities is proud to announce the launch of its inaugural three counties charity golf tournament. Golf clubs across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire will be holding qualifying rounds throughout September with a grand final being held at the prestigious 100 year old Ashburnham Golf Club, Burry Port, on Friday 10 October 2014. There will be 10 golf clubs participating in the qualifying rounds Ashburnham, Aberystwyth, Cardigan, Carmarthen, Glyn Abbey, Garnant Park, Glynhir, Milford Haven, Newport Links and Tenby. Former Wales wing Shane Williams, pictured at the launch of the tournament at Garnant Park Golf Club, is pleased to be supporting the events. He said: “Most people don’t know that hospital charities exist let alone the importance of the work they do. The NHS in Wales can only provide a limited amount of resources and this is where hospital charities come in. Hywel Dda Health Charities doesn’t replace NHS funding but uses donations received fr...