WALES'S NHS chief has promised Morriston Hospital will not lose its neurosurgery service.

Paul Williams, chief executive of NHS Wales, says the announcement that from next week, complex operations for severe brain injuries would be carried out in Cardiff, is just a temporary measure.

And he promised that once staffing problems had been resolved, the full service would be restored.

In a letter to the Evening Post, Mr Williams said: "The neurosurgery service is not leaving Swansea. The national shortage of junior doctors has particularly affected the recruitment of highly specialised doctors in this speciality.

"As soon as the patients are clinically stable, they will be transferred back to Morriston or their local district general hospital.

"This is a temporary measure while every effort is made to recruit sufficient middle-grade doctors."