Mrs. Janet Waymont from Llawhaden has recently been elected as chairman of the Pembrokeshire Local Committee of the Hywel Dda Community Health Council (CHC).

In this capacity, she will now lead the county members in their monitoring and scrutiny of NHS services within Pembrokeshire.

Mrs. Waymont is a Welsh Government appointed member of the CHC having joined Hywel Dda CHC upon its formation in 2010.

She was a former member of the old Pembrokeshire CHC prior to its amalgamation. She already represents the CHC on a number of health related initiatives.

Mrs. Waymont, in accepting the position at the annual general meeting of the CHC, thanked the members for their vote of confidence in electing her as chair and said she would do all that she could to meet their expectations.

Mrs. Waymont said she expected the times ahead to be challenging as she and the members all endeavoured to monitor healthcare services against a backdrop of changes that were being proposed and implemented by the Hywel Dda LHB.

Whilst she understood that change was inevitable, and that there were funding and staffing issues, she stressed that it was nevertheless important for patients and the public to be fully engaged in the plans that were being developed so as to ensure that there was no diminution of services. She and the members, all unpaid volunteers, would be vigilant in this respect.

Mrs. Waymont took over the leadership of the CHC from Mr. Alun Jones, of Hook, who had led the Pembrokeshire committee through the past two years.

He congratulated Mrs. Waymont on her appointment and wished her every success in the role. Mr. Jones, who has led the local CHC through its inaugural two years will continue as a valued member of the council.

Additionally at the annual general meeting, the council appointed Mr. Ray Hine, of Manorbier, as its vice-chairman.

Mr. Hine is a voluntary sector representative on the CHC and also represents the council on a variety of NHS and external committees and workgroups. He too thanked the members for appointing him to the position.

Mrs. Waymont also said that any patient or member of the public would be welcome to contact her personally or the local office if there were health related issues, changes or concerns that they would like to discuss, whether this be of a personal or more general nature, stressing that all intelligence to the CHC was vital in its monitoring role.

If you would like to contact the CHC with any health related matters, please email: [email protected]">[email protected] or telephone 01646 697610.