A major hospital in west Wales is to close its doors to emergencies overnight from the middle of next month because of a shortage of doctors.

Carmarthenshire NHS Trust confirmed in a statement on Friday, that Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli will have to send ambulance emergencies to hospitals in Carmarthen of Swansea - both about 20 miles away.

Patients will be transferred to hospitals 20 miles away

Patients groups have warned that patient safety must not be compromised by the move - which is due to begin on 13 September.

In the statement the NHS trust says the hospital has had difficulty in recruiting and the overnight closure will continue indefinitely until new staff can be appointed.

The trust stresses GPs will still be able to arrange the admission of emergency cases to the hospital at night 'where it is clinically appropriate'.

However, blue-light accident cases will either be taken to the West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen or to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

Prince Philip hospital will still provide a full service during the daytime and evening when the vast majority of cases are admitted, the trust statement says.

Vanessa Bourne of the Patients Association said patients' safety must be put first.

Recruitment crisis

"It is going to be vital that every patient knows that this is happening.

"Patients' safety is going to be even more compromised if they don't know what is going on.

"No patient must make a mistake on this one.

"It is vital that what is going be made known to the public," said Ms Bourne.

The latest announcement follows news earlier in the week, that GP practices could be forced either to close or to stop taking on new patients as a recruitment crisis threatens the number of doctors across Wales.

GP leaders have warned that more must be done to attract family doctors to Wales, as the profession is being stretched to its limit.

Low pay and the stress of being on-call, especially overnight, are being cited as the reasons why medics are failing to take up posts.