Welsh Labour’s £4bn election pledge could revive controversial new Whitland or St Clears hospital plan

The commitment was made in the party’s manifesto pledges for the forthcoming Senedd elections, launched by Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan in Newport.

The press release states that the new £4bn “Hospitals for the Future Fund” would, over the next 10 years, fund a “hospital development in West Wales” alongside the replacement of the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and the redevelopment of Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

This appears to refer to Hywel Dda University Health Board’s long-standing and controversial proposal for a new Urgent and Planned Care Hospital to be built near St Clears or Whitland in Carmarthenshire.

Those plans would see key services, including accident and emergency, removed from Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen and Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, which would be downgraded to community hospitals.

Campaigners and local politicians have repeatedly raised concerns about the impact on residents in areas like Llanelli and Ammanford, who would face significantly longer journeys for emergency treatment.

Last year, Swansea Bay News reported that the new-build plan had been pushed back by at least a decade, with Hywel Dda’s chief executive saying he was making a “strong case” to the Welsh Government for immediate investment in existing sites instead.

The inclusion of a “hospital development in West Wales” in Welsh Labour’s flagship election pledge suggests the new-build plan is now firmly back on the agenda if the party wins the election.

In her speech, Eluned Morgan said: “The NHS is not just a service. It’s a promise. And we need to renew that promise. Not with slogans, but with the biggest investment programme in our history. So, we are committing £4 billion to build the Hospitals of the Future.”

She added: “Patients deserve hospitals fit for modern medicine, not more make-do and mend. Staff deserve a working environment that matches their skill and dedication. And Wales deserves an NHS built for the future, not held together by goodwill alone.”

The health board has previously argued that a new, purpose-built hospital would allow it to meet modern healthcare standards, attract staff, and provide more specialist services than are currently available across its existing sites.

Welsh Labour was contacted for clarification on whether the pledge refers specifically to the Hywel Dda new-build proposal.

I’ve just opened a pack of Ibuprofen or as the Tories would call it, a new hospital

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