Health board and university renew partnership to boost health and skills in west Wales

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Friday 12 September at UWTSD’s Carmarthen campus. It builds on years of collaboration between the two organisations and sets out plans to continue joint work in research, innovation, business development and training for the health and care workforce.

Over recent years, the partnership has delivered a range of practical benefits. Health board staff have been able to take part in professional training programmes run by the university, including qualifications in people management and workplace practice. Teams from UWTSD’s Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre and Hywel Dda’s TriTech Institute have worked side‑by‑side on research projects, securing grant funding and developing new ideas for patient care. The two organisations have also launched a Therapy Assistant Practitioner Diploma, creating new career routes into therapy services and helping to fill skills gaps.

The next phase of the partnership will see the creation of a Centre for Social Innovation. This will bring together health board staff, university experts and local communities to find new ways of tackling social, environmental and economic challenges that affect people’s health. The aim is to test and develop practical solutions that support a “social model” of health and wellbeing — looking beyond hospitals and clinics to the wider factors that keep people healthy.

Hywel Dda Chief Executive Dr Phil Kloer said the renewed agreement was “an opportunity to reflect on the good work already undertaken and look forward to what we will achieve over the next five years and beyond.”

UWTSD Vice‑Chancellor Professor Elwen Evans KC said: “By joining forces and sharing our research capability and expertise we aim to deliver the innovation, skills and training needed by practitioners across the region, which will ultimately improve outcomes for people and communities in west Wales.”

Both organisations say the agreement will also help shape future training for health and care roles, ensuring students and staff have the skills they need for the jobs of today and tomorrow, and supporting the introduction of new technologies — including artificial intelligence — into health services.

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