Some planned operations are being cancelled at Carmarthen's Glangwili Hospital following high numbers of "very unwell" patients being admitted over the past few days.

Hywel Dda health Board said it is taking all action possible to ensure patients are provided with the care they need.

This has included ensuring full staffing levels are maintained, discharging any patients that do not need hospital treatment in a timely fashion, and postponing some non-emergency operations.

Carmarthenshire County Director Linda Williams said: “It has been particularly busy this weekend, with lots of attendees arriving by ambulance and needing admission to hospital.

"Monday night in particular was very busy and people had to wait longer than usual. Our frontline staff prioritised according to clinical need and provided ongoing care with compassion and I would like to thank them for that.

“To ensure we can continue to deal with the high volume of emergency admissions that we are seeing, we have temporarily postponed some planned operations. We apologise to any patients affected, whom we will contact directly, and we will re-arrange their procedures at the earliest convenience.”

If you haven’t been contacted by the health board directly, your appointments remain unchanged.

Members of the public are being asked to fully utilise alternative health services that may be available.

Clinical Director for Unscheduled Care, Consultant Jeremy Williams, said: “Most of the attendees at the emergency department over the weekend and into Monday did need to be there as they were very sick patients requiring emergency care.

"We would ask the public to continue to be vigilant and consider the full range of health services that could meet their needs if it is not an urgent or life-threatening situation.

"For people with conditions of a lesser severity, they can attend at a Minor Injury Unit, contact their GP, or attend one of our Triage and Treat pharmacies, for example, and they would be cared for appropriately and likely much more quickly than in our emergency units. As well as helping people to be seen in the quickest time possible, this would ultimately help us to save lives.”

For more information on choosing the best health service to meet your need visit www.hywelddahb.wales.nhs.uk/choosewell