There has been a problem at Glangwili General Hospital for many years but it is getting much worse by the day.

Glangwili General Hospital at Carmarthen cares for people living right across West Wales and out-patients have to travel round journeys of around a hundred miles or more. Likewise, people needing to visit their sick relatives have to do the same.

Every day, thousands have to visit the hospital. After arriving there, they have to face the problem of finding somewhere to park. This is virtually impossible and redfaced frustrated drivers can be seen driving around and around the car park – like headless chickens - looking for the non-existent spaces.

Many people have to return home without keeping their appointments or seeing their sick relatives. Others manage to park on adjacent ‘A’ roads and housing estates.

The spaces in the car parks at Glangwili Hospital are so narrow that most of today’s large vehicles cannot possibly park in them – they have to overlap into adjacent spaces.

Vehicles are very often damaged. Disabled people have a much worse time as any reserved disabled spaces are, likewise, so narrow that they are unable to get in or out of their parked cars or get into their wheelchairs.

The number of spaces for disabled is only a handful.

The Hywel Dda University Health Board has no thoughts of how its disabled, elderly and other patients and visitors manage to park their cars. They are extremely inconsiderate and have a ‘couldn’t care less attitude’.

After all, this problem is not new – it has existed for many years – it is simply getting worse by the day. There is only one possible answer to their problem. They need to plan and build a large multistorey car park – in fact, more than one. The simple answer in the meantime is to erect a temporary metal multi-storey car park. They say that they can’t afford to do either. But can they afford not to?

I’ve created an online petition ‘MULTI-STOREY CAR PARK URGENTLY NEEDED AT CARMARTHEN HOSPITAL’ and want to bring it to the attention of as many people in West Wales as possible.

You can read more and sign the petition here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/multi-storeycar- park-urgently-needed-atcarmarthen- hospital

Alun Lloyd Davies

Carmarthen