The future of a minor injury unit in Swansea appears uncertain due to worsening staff problems.
The unit at Singleton Hospital had to close several times last summer due to staff shortages, often at short notice.
It then shut its doors on a longer-term basis last November due to the refurbishment of an adjacent unit, but was supposed to reopen this spring. That hasn't happened.
A health watchdog said the case for closing the facility for good appeared to be a "strong one".
When asked for an update, a spokeswoman for Swansea Bay University Health Board said staffing issues had deteriorated - adding that some of the GPs who ran the service had resigned.
Efforts to recruit alternative GPs have not been successful, she said, despite the health board directly contacting doctors from across Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.
"Unfortunately, reopening the unit as it was with critically low staffing levels would mean so many unfilled shifts that the unit would be closed more than it would be open," said the spokeswoman.
"Doctors feel that this would not only be inconvenient for patients who turn up when it is closed, but would be an unacceptably high clinical risk."
Minor injury units normally deal with things like minor burns, wounds and broken bones - assuming there are X-ray facilities - and help relieve accident and emergency pressures.
Singleton Hospital's minor injury unit used to run 24/7, but fewer people attended and its opening hours decreased. Unplanned closures occurred as far back as 2016.
In October last year only 268 patients attended the unit compared to 540 the previous October, according to health board figures.
In contrast, attendance numbers at Neath Port Talbot Hospital's minor injury unit, which is open from 7am to 11pm seven days a week, were 3,191 in October last year compared to 3,328 in October 2017.
The health board spokeswoman said it was talking to patient watchdog the community health council about how best to use the existing minor injury unit staff and resources to provide the best service to patients .
She added: "We will share more details about this as soon as possible, but can give assurances that any potential service change will involve patients and the public before any decisions are made."
Meanwhile the refurbished facility - known as the Singleton assessment unit - which is next to the minor injury unit deals with some 8,500 cases per year.
These are sick patients referred directly from GPs, and patients assessed by the ambulance service as not 999 emergencies but who still need to go to hospital for acute medical assessment or admission.
Mwoyo Makuto, the interim chief officer of the community health council, said the health board had attended one of its meetings and proposed a permanent closure of the minor injury unit.
She said the case for closure seemed a "strong one", given the staffing issues, but said the community health council's main concern was patient engagement.
"We cannot comment on what clinicians say, but what we can do is absolutely insist that patients have a say in whatever is proposed," said Ms Makuto.
"We asked the health board to seek their (patients) views and carry out an equality impact assessment."
