Town mayor speaks out on Llan Hospital closure plan

llanblogger exclusive

The Mayor of Llan has warned against any closure of the town’s hospital before alternative services are provided.

Llanblogger asked Cllr Jon Haddy for his response to news earlier this week that the local health board was planning to shut down the hospital, and here is his full reply:

“It was not entirely a surprise that the future of the Llangollen Cottage Hospital was included as part of a review of Health Services provided by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in its recent report "Healthcare in North Wales is Changing", indeed the Town Council had a presentation early this year from the Betsi Cadwalader Board on the possibility of using the River Lodge site for a new integrated Health Centre. Leaving aside the loss of some of the services currently catered for by the Hospital in Llangollen that are proposed as part of the review, the important point I feel is contained in the conclusion in the report relating to Llangollen Hospital:

“The needs of many of the patients who are currently admitted to Llangollen Hospital will be met through the roll out of the new Enhanced Care at Home model of care. Some patients will still require access to community bed-based care and it is proposed that this is provided through a combination of commissioning beds from local care homes and the use of Chirk Community Hospital. As a result of these changes the Llangollen Community Hospital building will no longer be required to support service provision."

“Whilst this may be a practical solution to the problems that the Health Board is trying to solve, the important point is that until such time that an integrated Health Centre is actually up and running - wherever sited - and the Enhanced Care at Home programmes etc are in place, the services that the Hospital provides are an essential part of the community of Llangollen and a closure prior to the provision of those alternatives would, I suspect, inevitably mean the loss of all the services currently provided by the Hospital to Llangollen.”