The threat of closure to overnight emergencies at a major hospital in west Wales has been lifted after extra staff were employed.

Last week Carmarthenshire NHS Trust said that because of a shortage of doctors Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli would have to send ambulance emergencies to other hospitals 20 miles away.

Patients will be transferred to hospitals 20 miles away

But the trust says it has now recruited staff "as a temporary measure" to prevent emergencies from being transferred to Carmarthen and Swansea.

Patients groups had warned that patient safety should not be compromised by the move - which was due to begin on 13 September.

In a statement, the NHS trust said normal accident and emergency service could now resume at the hospital.

Paul Barnett, chief executive of the NHS trust, said: "We will continue to keep the service under review and we will do everything we can to appoint permanent members of staff to the department."

The hospital has had problems in recruiting but NHS trust says the shortage of suitably qualified doctors is a national problem which they are discussing with the Welsh Assembly.

The trust had stressed GPs will still have been able to arrange the admission of emergency cases to the hospital at night 'where it was clinically appropriate'.

Vanessa Bourne of the Patients Association maintained patients' safety must be put first and urged the trust to find a permanent solution.

Recruitment crisis

She said: "Its is important that patients in an area know what the situation is, their safety is going to be even more compromised if they don't know what is going on.

"Patients are entitled to a long term confidence in their hospital."

These latest announcement follow news last month, 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.