All six wards at Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest which were closed due to the presence of RAAC planks last year are now open.

Six of the Pembrokeshire hospital’s 12 wards were closed last summer after a significant amount of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) planks were found in the hospital building.

Hywel Dda University Health Board declared an internal major incident in order to identify the scale and impact of RAAC on the site and carry out urgent survey and repair work.

As well as the six wards, areas on the ground floor and kitchen, including outpatients and clinic rooms were also closed.

Wards 7, 9 and 12 were reopened at Christmas; Ward 11 was back up and running in January while Ward 10 was re-opened earlier this month.

Work came to an end on Ward 8 – the last ward to re-open - last week.

One of the services most seriously affected was elective inpatient surgery, but with the re-opening of all wards, this will now be introduced back to the hospital.

Hywel Dda said that “extensive work” still needs to be done on the Ground Floor at Withybush and “there is likely to be disruption when these areas are closed.”