TEMPORARY hospitals set up across the Hywel Dda health authority area in the face of the coronavirus pandemic look set to stay for the foreseeable future.

A total of seven temporary field hospitals were converted from council leisure centres, sport and recreational facilities across Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.

One of those is at Cardigan leisure centre where there are 48 beds still in place at Ysbyty Enfys Aberteifi which can be brought quickly on line as required.

The site was transformed in less than three weeks thanks to a remarkable effort from contractors, local communities, staff and volunteers in a joint collaboration between health chiefs and the local authority.

Similar facilities exist at Aberystwyth, Parc Y Scarlets and the Selwyn Samuel Centre in Llanelli and Bluestone National Park Resort in Pembrokeshire.

And health chiefs have confirmed that while the sites may be currently ‘hibernating’, they may well still be needed in the future to cope with any second wave of coronavirus cases or for other general medical purposes.

Andrew Carruthers, director of operations at Hywel Dda health board, said: “We are fortunate to have received so much support in the setting up of the field hospitals in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire.

“While the field hospitals are currently ‘hibernating’, these facilities are available to respond quickly and flexibly should there be another peak in Covid cases, or increased demand on services in our acute hospitals.

“Covid unfortunately is not going to simply go away, and so we need to base our plans not just on how we manage Covid patients, but also how we can restart other services and provide continuity of care across the system during the next 12 months or longer.

“This includes exploring different uses of our facilities to manage activity and the new associated national clinical and infection prevention and control guidance.

“We are also in constant dialogue with the local authorities and other site owners in regards to when it may be appropriate to repurpose any sites back to their substantive use.”