Plaid Cymru’s Elin Jones AM has said that a decision to repay the historic debts inherited by the Hywel Dda NHS Trust will ensure that local healthcare services will have a stronger financial basis.

The Ceredigion AM this week received written confirmation from the Health Minister, Edwina Hart AM, that historic debts totalling £40.469 million accumulated by the Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Derwen, and Carmarthenshire NHS Trust prior to the creation of the Hywel Dda NHS Trust last year would be repaid by the Assembly Government.

Elin Jones AM was the first to identify the potential burden of a historic debt mainly accumulated by Pembrokeshire and Derwen, and Carmarthenshire NHS Trusts on healthcare services in Ceredigion.

The Health Minister announced last year that she was willing to look at the possibility of repaying the debt should the Hywel Dda NHS Trust break even during the 2008 – 2009 financial year.

The repayment of the substantial historic debt will coincide with the Trust’s transformation to being the Hywel Dda Local Health Board on 01 October 2009.

Commenting on the Health Minister’s announcement, Ceredigion AM Elin Jones said: "This decision to write off this debt comes at the end of my long campaign to ensure that Ceredigion residents weren’t unduly burdened by the debts mainly accumulated by the Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire Trusts under the new Hywel Dda structure.

"I’m therefore very pleased that the Health Minister has kept to the promise made last year and will cancel the substantial historic debt which was inherited by the Hywel Dda Trust. This major victory for my campaign proves the One Wales Government’s commitment to the NHS in Ceredigion and West Wales and means that local healthcare services can be provided without the worry of having to service a debt".