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Health board confirms return of full children’s services after recruitment drive

30 May 2025 2 minute read
The nursing team on Angharad Ward

Hywel Dda University Health Board has approved the return of a fully operational paediatric service at Bronglais Hospital following a recruitment drive.

Last September the health board announced that children requiring more than 36-hours of hospital-based care, would be transferred from Bronglais, to Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen, as a temporary measure, due to a shortage of children’s nurses.

Despite the changes which began in November 2024, Angharad Ward, continued to provide a 24-hour a day service for children and young people.

Transferred

During this time, around 400 patients were treated at Bronglais Hospital, of which three were transferred to other hospitals.

Two of the three were transferred on medical grounds, meaning only one young patient and their family was impacted by the temporary change.

Six new nurses have joined the ward which means that the service can now return to normal.

Senior Sister and Angharad Ward Manager Bethan Hughes said: “We have struggled to recruit here in Bronglais for many years, and that’s probably due to the rural nature of the area. While it’s a beautiful place to come and work and live, we are a long way from city life.

“We have been lucky enough to attract nurses into the service through successful recruitment campaigns and joining together with colleagues and senior managers within the department to look at other possible ways of recruiting.

“We’ve looked at our job descriptions and recruited staff into some of the vacancies on a generic job description for registered nurses who have extensive paediatric experience and knowledge.

“It’s been a mixture of thinking outside of the box and adopting a flexible approach, and, on this occasion, it has worked successfully for us.”

Staffing issues

Nick Williams-Davies, Hywel Dda’s Service Delivery Manager for Acute Paediatric and Neonatal Services said: “We are so pleased that service at Angharad Ward has returned to normal. This is thanks to a lot of collaborative working within the team to come up with workable solutions to our staffing issues.

“We have a fantastic team at Angharad Ward who are ready to care for our children and young people.  I would also like to thank staff for working so hard over the last six months, as they always do, to ensure the best care possible for our young patients.”


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