Betsi Cadwaladr and Hywel Dda NHS boards consult on shake-ups

Plans by two Welsh health boards to reorganise their services have been discussed at public meetings.

Betsi Cadwaladr in north Wales predicts a financial shortfall of £64.6m this year, while Hywel Dda in mid and west Wales faces a £12.8m financial gap.

Consultation meetings have been held on Tuesday in Flintshire and in Carmarthenshire respectively.

Six of Wales' seven local health boards are predicting a combined deficit of around £230m this financial year.

The first in a series of local consultation meetings on Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board's plans to reorganise hospital services took place at the council chambers in Connah's Quay.

Meetings were scheduled to start at 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00 BST on Tuesday.

Under the board's plans, announced earlier this year, community hospitals at Flint and Blaenau Ffestiniog could close and minor injury accident departments may shut at others.

Neo-natal intensive care may also be transferred over the border to England as part of the proposed shake-up.

Hywel Dda's first meeting was scheduled for 19:00 BST at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli.

In August the board, which provides healthcare to around 372,320 patients throughout Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, revealed its own reorganisation plans.

These include the centralisation of its services for sick and premature babies at Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen, a move which has prompted protests at Haverfordwest's Withybush Hospital.