Drop-in sessions have been arranged for Allied Healthcare staff in Carmarthenshire, following news that their employment is to be transferred to Carmarthenshire County Council.
Staff will have the opportunity to meet members of the council’s domiciliary care management team and human resources officers.
Letters have been issued to all those affected, and they are strongly advised to attend so that they can ask questions about the transfer of their employment and receive an information pack.
The transfer of employment and care packages is due to take place on December 11.
The sessions will take place between 1pm-5pm on the following dates:
Tuesday, November 27 – Llanelli Leisure Centre
Wednesday, November 28 – Cartref Cynnes, Llansteffan Road, Carmarthen
The Welsh Government’s First Minister has described the project to restore Llanelli Railway Goods Shed for community use as an exciting plan for the future of Llanelli.
First Minister Carwyn Jones AM visited the Goods Shed site in Marsh Street to take part in a remembrance service to pay tribute to the 13 men from the Great Western Railway who died during World War One.
He also joined members of the Llanelli Railway Goods Shed Trust and development partners for a fact-finding tour of the shed building.
Planning permission has been granted for the renovation of the shed and the establishment of a community hub, heritage centre, arts facility and offices.
The First Minister said after his visit: “I think it has got wonderful potential. I’ve seen buildings like this refurbished and brought back into use as offices and different types of accommodation. Buildings like this are tremendous assets for the towns that they are in.
“I think it’s marvellous that the Trust is here to help develop this building and it’s going to be an exciting project for the future.”
Nia Griffith, MP for Llanelli and Chair of the Goods Shed Trust, said: “We were all delighted to see the interest the First Minister expressed in the project to restore the Railway Goods Shed here in Llanelli. It’s an ambitious scheme, but one which is important for our town and the surrounding area.
“The project is currently priced at £2.6million and the Trust is working hard to secure funding for the project from a number of sources. We are confident that we have developed a sustainable plan which will save this Grade II Listed building, which is one of the last of its kind, and develop it for community use. We are developing a number of exciting partnerships with other organisations and business to help achieve our goals.”
Ms Griffith added: “One of the things we want to do with the shed is to explore the heritage of Llanelli’s great industrial history.
“We are developing innovative ways of doing that and working closely with local schools to make sure the children of Llanelli understand more about the heritage of their town.
“The remembrance service for former employees of the GWR is just one of the ways we have used to explore the heritage of Llanelli and increase awareness of Llanelli’s industrial history.”
The Rev Eldon Phillips, a trustee of the Goods Shed, conducted the remembrance service which saw temporary memorial plaques (to be replaced later with permanent memorials) unveiled at the Goods Shed.
The service was attended by ceremonial standard bearers from the Royal British Legion and associated veterans’ organisations.
Ms Griffith added: “It was a very solemn occasion, to mark the sad loss of 13 men who worked for the Great Western Railway Company here in Llanelli during World War One.”
The remembrance service was attended by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed Lt Col David Mathias, Deputy Llanelli Town Mayor Suzy Curry and representatives of the Railway Goods Shed Trust, including George Parker, who led the team who carried out the research into the war dead.
The congregation included representatives of the current site owners, Network Rail, and Llanelli Railway Station, school children from Ysgol Penrhos, Coedcae School, Ysgol Maes y Morfa and Bigyn School. They joined civic dignitaries and veterans in laying 13 wreaths at the Goods Shed – one for every name on the memorial.
The First Minister Carwyn Jones laid the first wreath and said: “It is a great honour to be with you all here today to remember all those brave young men who gave their lives all those years ago so we can stand here today and enjoy our freedom.”
Sam Hadley, senior public affairs manager for Network Rail Wales and Borders, said: “We were very proud to play a role in this fitting tribute to the railwaymen of Llanelli who lost their lives in the Great War.
“The First Minister clearly recognised the potential of this historic railway building and we will continue to work collaboratively with the Goods Shed Trust on their plans to restore and reopen the shed for community use.”
Businesses in Carmarthenshire are benefitting from a new £500,000 grant scheme to help them to grow and employ.
Carmarthenshire County Council’s Business start-up and growth schemes offer up to £10,000 funding at 50 per cent of total project costs to help them buy equipment, machinery, marketing materials and to carry out minor works to their business premises.
Award-winning Ponthenri business, Ickle Bubba, which manufactures and sells children’s travel systems, prams and pushchairs, was one of the first recipients of the new scheme.
Company Director, Veronica Vaughan, said: “We recently expanded into a new premises on Ponthenri Industrial estate which meant we needed new equipment and fixtures to furnish the new unit.
“We received support from Carmarthenshire County Council’s business growth fund which has helped us to do this, enabling us to increase the capacity and efficiency of what we can supply while creating new jobs for the area”.
Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Cllr. Emlyn Dole, said: “Carmarthenshire’s businesses are a vital part of the economic fabric of the county and as such, it is a priority for us to support those businesses which have ambitions to grow and create jobs.
“Carmarthenshire County Council is committed to providing this support to create a stronger economy for the county.”
Businesses interested in applying must be looking to create new jobs in order to be eligible. Those interested are asked to contact 01554 748813 or email businessfund@carmarthenshire.gov.uk.
Decisions made this week, to approve or otherwise, Hywel Dda University Health Board’s first clinical strategy will shape the way our entire population keeps well and receives health and care for the next 20 years.
Board members will consider and debate the strategy – A Healthier Mid and West Wales – in a meeting to be held and broadcast live from Carmarthenshire Council Chamber on Thursday at 9.30am.
The document sets out the vision for our population’s health, with aims to achieve it. That is for a mid and west Wales where ‘individuals, communities and the environments they live, play and work in are adaptive, connected and mutually supportive’, which means people are ‘resilient and resourceful and enabled to live joyful, healthy and purposeful lives with a strong sense of belonging’.
If approved, the strategy will provide the prioritisation and common goals needed to develop specific action plans for health and care service provision in the future, including a much greater focus than ever before on prevention, early intervention and community care.
These are ambitions shared by the local authorities in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire who want to step-up the integration of health and social care across community services so we impact the wider determinants of people’s health.
There is also a commitment to continue to work with and engage staff, patients, people in our communities and those delivering, or interested in, health, care and well-being. We know many people are keen to see change but some people are also worried about how future plans my affect them. This is all governed by the principles of making sure all decisions and actions are safe, sustainable, accessible and kind, with our staff and communities helping us test that those principles are in place.
Some early examples of how the board will work towards its vision are included in the document, as well as some broad timelines.
For example:
To demonstrate what community based care could look like to local people, early implementers of health and well-being centres will be established in Cardigan, Llandysul, Lampeter, Llanelli and Pembroke Dock. This won’t prohibit work to enhance community care in other areas, or schemes already underway for example Cylch Caron in Tregaron, and Cross Hands
Care navigators in the community will help people understand and use community based services, which will be built around seven integrated localities so they can be responsive to the specific needs of their populations (North and South Ceredigion, North and South Pembrokeshire, Amman and Gwendraeth, Taf, Tywi and Teifi) Community and hospital based services will be assessed and consideration made of the full seven-days of the week, so we can expand services with the most positive impact for patients
Consultation recommendations in September made no decision on whether to close beds at Amman Valley and South Pembrokeshire hospitals so the health board will now work with these communities, and others, to explore different types of beds – whether in existing community hospitals, at home or another setting
Work to build a new hospital in the south of the Hywel Dda area for urgent and planned care will begin now. This will include scoping and feasibility studies for sites between Narberth and St Clears. The new hospital is critical to the health board’s plans for re-organised local hospitals, and if not achieved for any reason, plans would need to be re-considered and the board would go back out to engage with the public. It is anticipated a new hospital would be operational by 2027.
The types of service expected to be included in each of the health board’ current hospitals (Bronglais, Glangwili, Prince Philip, Withybush) are outlined in the document on pages 35 to 37 (https://bit.ly/2BxMNs9)
Medical Director Dr Philip Kloer said: “This is the first clinical strategy our clinicians have brought before Hywel Dda University Health Board, and if approved it is a landmark position which gives us a common goal and foundation on which to develop our services for our population. We have broadly defined the services that people can expect to see in our network of hospitals and community services, although we now start the work of co-designing all the different pathways of care for people with different health conditions.”
Director of Public Health Ros Jervis added: “I’m delighted we have been able to bring together our clinical vision for providing health and care services with a clear mandate and commitment to how we build on the strengths and resources we already have in place in our communities to live healthier and joyful lives. This strategy is not solely about hospitals and what we do when people are unwell but how we consider the whole system, to use our community strengths to protect and promote health and well-being and prevent illness, even when people are faced with challenging life circumstances”.
If the strategy is approved by the board, it will be launched with the public in the New Year, including publication of a summary version and alternative versions to reach specific audiences. This will be supported by ongoing information and opportunities to engage and talk with the health board through locality based events and relationships.
In the meantime, if you are interested in shaping the future health and well-being of the population or the design of services, you can join the involvement scheme Siarad Iechyd Talking Health at www.talkinghealth.wales.nhs.uk or phone: 01554 899 056
Deliveries of blue bags to every household in Carmarthenshire have started.
By the end of March, every home will have received three rolls of blue bags, which allows up to six bags for each recycling collection week – although there is no limit to the amount of blue bags you can place out for recycling.
Refuse/ recycling crews will be delivering these to 87,000 households during this period. They will be in Carmarthenshire County Council marked vans, and deliveries will be made Monday to Saturday up until 5pm. The deliveries will be made separately to the usual refuse/recycling collections.
This is the second year that the council has been delivering three rolls to each household. The decision was made following feedback from residents who asked for blue bags to be more accessible to help them recycle more. It was also implemented to ensure the bags were used solely for their main purpose of recycling household items.
Having blue bags delivered to homes aims to ensure all residents are equipped with the bags to allow them to recycle household items easily.
Large families, which may require additional rolls during the year, can collect from 12 collection points allocated across the county, along with the mobile library service. The outlets are: Amman Valley Leisure Centre; Ammanford and Carmarthen customer service centres; Carmarthen Leisure Centre; Lampeter library; Llandeilo council offices; Llandovery swimming pool; Llandysul library; Llanelli customer services centre; Llanelli Leisure Centre, Newcastle Emlyn Library and St Clears Leisure Centre.
The council’s executive board member for environment, Cllr Hazel Evans, said: “This is the second year that we are delivering blue bags to each household in the county following on from feedback we have previously received from residents. By now we are confident that we have addressed any problems that we may have encountered last year and have taken on board feedback from our residents. I hope this scheme continues to help households to keep up their good work in recycling.”
Crews will deliver to all households. Houses across the road or further down the street can often be on a different delivery route, therefore you could receive them at different times.
There’s a welcome in the hillside for Pembrey Country Park’s latest visitors.
Mountain sheep are spending their winter holiday grazing the sand dunes by Cefn Sidan beach.
The flock of Welsh Glamorgan’s will be helping to conserve rare wildlife as well as encouraging dune growth which can be affected by bad weather.
A dune system will naturally move in the wind, with millions of tiny grains of sand blowing around. Some dunes will be eroding and others will build up as part of this natural land-forming process.
The project is a joint venture between Mark Powell, a specialist in traditional grazing, Carmarthenshire County Council’s Local Nature Reserves, Pembrey Country Park and Pont Cymru with funding from Welsh Government’s Environment Single Revenue Grant – Enhancing access to a biodiverse natural environment.
Carmarthenshire County Council’s conservation officer, Simeon Jones said: “Sheep grazing in Pembrey Country Park will be a welcome addition to the already established cattle grazing project in Pembrey Burrows Local Nature Reserve next door to the park. Grazing sand dunes is now seen as essential in conserving some of our rarer wildlife, but also in keeping the sand dune habitat in a healthy state.”
