Bridgend NHS services to be run by Cwm Taf board

Health services in Bridgend are to be provided by Cwm Taf University Health Board from next April.

The area is currently served by Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, which also covers Swansea.

The change is being made to reflect Bridgend's increasing ties with towns and cities to its east as part of the Cardiff capital region.

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said health care was "best served by strong, integrated partnership arrangements".

After putting the matter out to consultation, the Welsh Government said the current situation "creates a particular challenge" for public services in Bridgend which it said are "increasingly working with others across the Cardiff Capital Region to deliver economic growth and improvement in education".

Mr Gething said: "I am grateful to the health boards for their continued engagement throughout this process.

"I look forward to working with them and others over the coming months to deliver the new partnership arrangements, putting in place a strong foundation for sustaining and improving public services."

Legislation will have to be passed in the assembly for the health board boundary change to take effect.

One Labour backbencher - Aberavon AM David Rees - said he was "hugely disappointed" with the change, asking how services at Neath Port Talbot Hospital currently managed from Bridgend would continue to operate in the longer term.

He said local people should be given "confidence that the long term future of their health care will be protected".