A county councillor will soon by helping on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus as he trains to be a health care support worker with Hywel Dda Health Board.

Clr. Joshua Beynon, from Pembroke Dock, stepped up to the plate and answered a call from the health board urgently in need of more health care assistants, porters, catering staff to assist in its three hospitals and the community.

Within 10 days of applying for a temporary roll Clr. Beynon was starting his e-learning and has joined scores of others at Pembrokeshire College for practical training, all while maintaining social distancing rules.

On Monday (April 6) Clr. Beynon, who worked in care after he left school, said there were around 60 people at training, with a couple of hundred expected over the next few weeks and he was looking forward to returning to the job despite how hard it will be.

“It was a very quick turnaround, which is good. From the health board and the council perspective things probably take a lot longer in normal times, it shows things can happen faster,” he said, highlighting the use of video calls by GP surgeries and conference calls.

“I know it’s awful circumstances, but I do hope that some of these things stick once this is all over.”

This set of training finishes Wednesday with people then having a shadow shift before starting at Withybush Hospital or in the Pembrokeshire community, with other training centres in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.

“A lot of people here had other jobs but are quite willing to help out, people wanted to play their part, not just here, people are volunteering and helping out in the community.

“The porters, domestics, catering assistants are the least paid and on the frontline now, how we treat those people and pay them, these conversations need to happen once this is over, something needs to be done about that,” added Clr. Beynon.