At their meeting in Builth Wells on Tuesday, the Health Authority endorsed the views of the Tenby, Saundersfoot and Narberth Community Services Review working group that the Cottage Hospital should be replaced with a new building within a three mile radius of the town.
The Tenby, Saundersfoot and Narberth Community Services Review working group was set-up following a public consultation in Pembrokeshire to further examine future options for healthcare services in the area.
Its recommendation to the Health Authority was that the services provided by the Cottage Hospital should be relocated to a new, purpose-built centre and that there should be a development of care facilities for the residents of Narberth in Sunnybank. The details of this proposal would be worked out following a separate Narberth review process.
Although the Health Authority have agreed with their recommendation, the proposed new facilities must, they stress, fit in with the overall plan for healthcare provision across Pembrokeshire which will determine whether or not services from a new building are affordable, and there is a suggestion that a public/private partnership may prove a viable option.
Andy Williams, chairman of the working group, said: "A new-build is our preferred option, which has been endorsed by the Health Authority, but we must now look at what is needed elsewhere in Pembrokeshire before we know whether or not we can afford a new building in Tenby.
"We know what services need to be provided, but not how, and the working group concluded that a new-build is the best option. We can now move forward and examine the provision of a new building in the context of services across Pembrokeshire.
"If we can afford it, then we will be looking at a public/private funding partnership."
Should a new-build prove "unaffordable", the working group recommend the refurbishment of the existing Cottage Hospital site to provide "all the existing ambulatory services, except for minor injuries, and to provide a day care service jointly with the social services department"
This option would require 10 intermediate care beds for Tenby and Saundersfoot residents to be provided in a nursing home in the area which would also home the minor injuries service.
Care facilities for Narberth residents in Sunnybank would also be developed, with the exact nature again being determined by a separate, Narberth-based, review process.
Tenby town councillor, Mrs. Caroline Thomas, who sat on the working group, felt that Tenby "could be in with a chance" of a new hospital.
"At the end of the day, it is all going to go down to affordability, and I hope the Health Authority give any potential tenderers exact guidelines of what will be expected from the new facility, " she said.
Chairman of CATCH (the Campaign for Action on Tenby Cottage Hospital), Clr. Michael Williams, gave the news a cautious welcome.
"When the working group endorsed the reprovision of the hospital, the whole idea was to come to a final answer," he said. "Now we are to have a further delay for another study.
"The working group was looking at the health needs of the people of south-east Pembrokeshire," he continued. "It was not what they would like, but what they need, and the clear consensus was that a reprovision of facilities from Tenby Cottage Hospital was needed.
"Our MP, Mr. Nick Ainger, has continually assured CATCH that money is not a problem and we look forward to the Health Authority and the Government delivering on the health needs of this area," he added.
Clr. Williams admitted he was a "little concerned" about the suggestion of a public/private funding partnership.
"But if it delivers us our new hospital then so be it," he said.
"I am also a little concerned that the Health Authority already seem to be putting caveats in, saying what the options are if the new hospital proves 'unaffordable'," he continued.
"If they can afford to refurbish the Cottage Hospital, and pay the market rent that the county council will have to charge by law, then they can afford a new hospital.
"After years of consultation the conclusion once again is that this area needs this facility and we looked forward to them meeting that need."