Residents feel unsafe due to lack of healthcare

Residents have said they feel "unsafe" and "forgotten" because of the state of the healthcare services in their area.

Faye Hayward, from Dafen, Carmarthenshire, said there was no support out there and locals were "angry".

Their concerns come as Llwynhendy health centre appeals to patients to write to their local Member of the Senedd (MS) to ask for more funding.

The Welsh government said negotiations for general medical services funding for the next financial year were ongoing.

Ms Hayward, 62, called the lack of services in the area "terrible", adding: "Llanelli is completely forgotten about."

There are also concerns that a new development plan for about 200 homes and an 84-bed care home will mean an increase in patients and demand.

"We've got houses being built around the area, we just haven't got room for them. There's no room in the doctors," she said.

She added: "You phone at 08:30 in the morning and you're 60 behind.

"You can't get an appointment from one day to the next, yet they're going to build houses and bring in more people."

Yvonne Hogan, 76, from Llwynhendy, said she felt unsafe: "People can't be seen, you can phone up and you're on the phone for three or four hours."

Practice manager Phillip Harrison said the surgery's patient list had increased from 8,000 to 11,500 over the past 10 years.

He added that new developments for the area were "a concern" and the practice was working with the care home to ensure it would not impact current patients.

As part of a wider campaign by the British Medical Association, the health centre is appealing to patients to write to their local MS.

On its website it says that GPs across Wales were facing "a crisis" and "an unsustainable workload".

The Save Our Surgeries appeal is asking the Welsh government for a rescue package.

It said that GPs receive £117.48 a year for each patient, which equates to 32p a day for every one registered.

It said this was "less than the cost of an apple" and meant it could not deliver some services.

Llanelli MS Lee Waters said that although GPs across Wales needed further support, Llwynhendy health centre also needed to "modernise services".

He said: "I think there's a conversation to be had with the health board to see how they can be supported to have greater diversity and support with the building."

The British Medical Association said general practice in Wales was "in crisis" as a direct result of underinvestment and the service was receiving just 6.1% of the entire NHS budget.

It added that despite a campaign for a rescue package, the Welsh government once again chose to disregard the serious concerns and valuable contribution of general practice by putting forward another derisory offer last month.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "£650m of funding was provided for general medical services in 2023/24 and negotiations for 2024-25 were ongoing."