Covid forces hospital wards to close and operations postponed in west Wales

A health board in west Wales has been forced to postpone operations and close some wards due to an increase in patients being admitted with coronavirus.

In a statement, Hywel Dda Health Board said NHS services are facing "multiple challenges" due to staff having to self-isolate, high emergency demand and an increase in coronavirus patients.

As a result, it said elective orthopaedic surgery at Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli and Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest has been suspended to provide more bed capacity.

The health board said it has also taken the decision to close a ward at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen with "additional precautions being taken at a further two wards".

Chief executive of the health board Steve Moore said, "I would firstly like to reassure our communities that what we are doing is all about prioritising patient safety at this time.

“I want to be clear that our urgent and emergency care services remain open for people who need to use them, and the measures we are putting in place will help to ensure that we can see these patients.

"However, we are still very much in this pandemic, which continues to disrupt our everyday lives, and unfortunately one of the consequences of this is that we are having to bring back temporary measures, including postponing some surgery in the short term, to ensure we can safely care for patients."

Mr Moore reiterated while admissions for Covid patients are not as high as in previous waves, the virus "remains a serious risk to our health and our health service."

"I’m appealing to everyone to continue doing their bit by sticking with the ‘keep safe’ behaviours that have been shown to reduce spread of the virus. Without your help, we will see more cases which puts individuals at risk and can disrupt delivery of public services here in west Wales.”