TRANSPORT, access and maintaining Bronglais Hospital were key issues of concern for Ceredigion councillors following a presentation from Hywel Dda chiefs on its plans.

Health board chief executive Steve Moore and chairman Bernardine Rees visited the council’s Penmorfa HQ to update members on the outcome of its ‘Transforming Clinical Services’ consultation.

The healthier communities overview and scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Alun Lloyd Jones said nothing was more important than health but residents had concerns about accessibility.

“People are afraid of the lack of transport to take people to where they need to go,” he said.

Cllr Lloyd Jones added that an elderly woman had told him she got a parking fine after struggling to find a space for an appointment, which all added to the “stress” of medical visits.

“It needs sorting, it becomes like a cancer eating away at the people,” he added.

He also emphasised the need to remember that the location of the new hospital was important for all Ceredigion residents, not just those in the south of the county.

Mr Moore said: “The scale of our ambition here is maybe quite daunting and we made a deliberate decision that we have got to redesign everything,” emphasising the importance of an “interlocking” community and hospital-based system.

“The health board has never had a strategy and that can be frustrating for regional partners but now we have a clear idea we can use these partnerships to move forward,” added Mr Moore.

Mrs Rees referred to the plan to look at the Hywel Dda region through seven localities and focusing on what was needed for each area.

Cllr Keith Evans said no-one envied the task ahead and “nobody will be totally satisfied with the solutions you come up with but I think it’s important to maximise what we can do in our localities to take some of the strain off our hospitals.”

He added that more needed to be done to increase funding for training and a concerted lobbying effort was required to ensure transport improvements.

Mr Moore agreed and said improving links north to south was as important as the west to east network.

Ensuring Bronglais “thrives” will require the right clinical staff said Mr Moore.