I’ve had the honour and privilege of representing people across Mid and West Wales since 2016.

For all that time – and throughout the year I’ve been First Minister – I’ve listened carefully to what people have said to me in the countless conversations we’ve had, especially about local health services.

You’ve told me you want better access to healthcare – you don’t want to wait years for an operation, and you don’t want to wait weeks for a GP appointment.

You want to be able to see an NHS dentist locally and if you can, you want to have care as close to home as possible.

I take your views seriously.

I’m proud of the work the Welsh Labour Government is doing with the NHS to improve care across Mid and West Wales although we are aware there is always room for improvement.

Long waiting times are falling, and cancer performance has improved significantly over the last year in Hywel Dda. The children’s service at Bronglais Hospital is fully operational again after six more nurses were recruited to work on Angharad ward.

Hywel Dda University Health Board has made some of the best progress in Wales in cutting waiting times – there’s been a 99 per cent reduction in 52-week outpatient numbers and an 86 per cent reduction in people waiting more than two years for treatment over the last 12 months. Responding to the request for support locally and receiving it locally.

We’ve changed the GP contract to make it easier to get an appointment, rolled out the NHS Wales app and we’re paying GPs and dentists more to train in West Wales as recruiting to West Wales is more difficult than in many other parts of the country. Every month, 218,000 people across the health board area see a GP in their local communities– that’s more than half the population, hardly a health desert!

Local pharmacies provide free treatment for almost 30 minor illnesses without an appointment – more than 43,000 people used the service here last year – and high street opticians provide treatment for a wide range of eye conditions, so you don’t have to go to hospital again this is a local service – no health desert here either.

We know that lots of people were struggling to find an NHS dentist so in the past couple of years nearly 43,000 new dental patients have received a full course of treatment since 2022 and a further 22,000 people have had urgent treatment across the region thanks to changes the Welsh Labour Government made to the current dental contract to improve access. Those are people in Mid and West Wales receiving treatment locally. And now we’re working on a new NHS contract, which will put people’s oral health needs first.

The Welsh Labour Government has funded brand new developments and hospital equipment, bringing more care closer to home – from new MRI scanners at Bronglais Hospital to the new Cardigan Hospital and Aberaeron Integrated Care Centre.

And we’re putting £7m towards the new Carmarthen Health and Wellbeing Hwb – a new development by the council, the health board and the University of Wales Trinity Saint Davids, which will be open next year.

I know just how passionate we are in Mid and West Wales about NHS services. We all rely on the NHS, especially when we’re at our most vulnerable.

The NHS is always changing and always innovating. Always working hard to provide better care and better outcomes.

I want to give you just three examples of change for the better across Hywel Dda.

A clinical pharmacist specialising in respiratory care is working with 52 primary schools across Pembrokeshire to provide support and education to children with asthma and similar symptoms. It is helping them and their families to manage the condition better.

Same-day CT staging has been introduced across the health board for everyone with suspected cancer who undergoes an endoscopy. This has reduced the number of hospital visits needed and reduced the time it takes to make a diagnosis.

And Hywel Dda’s maternity and neonatal risk and governance team has won three awards at the 2025 UK Maternity Unit Marvels Awards for the role they play in improving safety for mums-to-be.

We all want the best possible care and the best possible results when we use the NHS.

And that’s why Hywel Dda University Health Board – like other health boards – regularly looks at how and where it provides clinical services to deliver the best outcomes for people being delivered by health specialists.

This was also why the NHS Joint Commissioning Committee made the decision to change where the air ambulance is physically based. This will improve the level of service the most seriously injured and sickest people receive, especially at night.

I will continue to support my constituents if their healthcare falls short of the high standards we rightly expect of our NHS or if something goes wrong, to ensure it can be put right and lessons learned.

And I will always champion and stand up for the NHS, including its thousands of hard-working staff, in Mid and West Wales.

Eluned Morgan

Member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales.