Hospital campaign group SOSPPAN (Save Our Services Prince Philip Action Network) is urging residents to make their voices heard in Hywel Dda Health Board’s hospital consultation at a series of public meetings this weekend.

They will be gathering in Tycroes, Llwynhendy, Llangennech and Bynea to encourage people to respond to the consultation before it closes on Thursday, July 12.

SOSPPAN, which is fighting to keep Prince Philip Hospital (PPH) as a general hospital, has already held a number of street stalls and public meetings in Llanelli town, Kidwelly, Burry Port, Pontyberem, Llannon and Tumble.

The group will be holding a public meetings at Tycroes Village Hall, Ammanford Road at 9am this Saturday, July 7.

If the Health Board push ahead with plans to move the A&E west to Whitland, then the campaigners are insisting that Llanelli residents should have direct access to the A&E at Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

They are also pushing for a dedicated transport fleet to get people to hospital appointments and a community hub with beds and a minor injuries unit in Ammanford.

Nia Griffith MP, who will be addressing all four SOSPPAN meetings on Saturday, said: “We are running out of time to save Prince Philip Hospital.

"Llanelli is the largest town in the Hywel Dda area and we simply must be served by a proper general hospital. I will be making this clear case to people from all over the Llanelli area at the SOSPPAN meetings on Saturday.

“This really is the last chance to complete the hospital consultation.

"We must make it clear to the health board that the proposal to downgrade Prince Philip Hospital is an absolute non-starter.”

Louvain Roberts, Chair of SOSPPAN, said: “We’ve been campaigning all over the Llanelli area to raise awareness of Hywel Dda’s hospital consultation and encourage people to back ‘Proposal B+’, which we think has the best chance of saving our hospital.

“I’ve called for the Health Board to extend the consultation period by three weeks, as there have been huge problems getting hard copies of the questionnaire.

"There has been sparse availability of questionnaires, especially at the start of the consultation period and they have given us far fewer than we need before the deadline.”

Lee Waters AM added: “I had an honest but constructive meeting with the Chief Executive of the Hywel Dda health board last Friday.

"He told me that of the 22,000 copies of the consultation on the future of Prince Phillip just 1,000 have been sent back so far.

"It’s vitally important that we all take this chance to tell them you want Prince Phillip to be saved.”

Copies of the consultation document can be requested from the offices of Nia Griffith MP and Lee Waters AM.

The questionnaire can also be completed online by visiting https://www.ors.org.uk/web/index.php/survey/index/sid/751664/newtest/Y/lang/en