CARMARTHENSHIRE Media caught up with the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Nia Griffith MP recently and we asked her for her thoughts on the new Wellness Centre and the future of elderly care in Llanelli. We asked if people were right to be skeptical about wellness centre and if the people of Llanelli would benefit from the proposed new centre. She said: I think it has to be very carefully managed. If we look at the figures this is supposed to be part of the Swansea Bay City Region. The idea of a city region project is to give lots of different opportunities to people here so you don’t have job opportunities in just one sector. What I am interested in is how the 5G is rolled out. The opportunities for up-skilling with IT. That opens up a whole load of other opportunities for people. As for the investment, as I understand it it is 50% private, 30% from the local authorities taking part and 20% from the Welsh Assembly Government and the UK Government. Management of this is absolutely key to make sure jobs come back to this area. That there is a supply chain in this area and that the high quality jobs stay in this area. That is why we have Trinity St Davids and Swansea University both working together in this partnership.
Speaking about the loss of the St Paul’s Care Home and the prospects for elderly care in Llanelli she said: I think there is a real issue in terms of what accommodation is available for elderly people in Llanelli. At the moment we have a situation where someone has been turned down for sheltered accommodation because they wouldn’t be able to get out in a fire. It worries me very considerably about the wardens in these sheltered units because that is a very important stepping stone. Lots of people don’t want full care home, they want some independence. We need to look at those models. I would be very angry indeed if the promise to replace the St Paul’s Care Home were not kept. I am worried because I think we have got a very slippery council here. We are seeing the same sort of thing happening now. Lack of clarity nobody being given the proper information about the home as we have had with Parc Howard.
