 |
| * Mike Edwards |
llanblogger exclusive
Community group
Keep Llangollen Special have called for a meeting with local health chiefs to
seek answers to a number of vital questions surrounding the proposed closure of
the Cottage Hospital and its replacement with a new health centre.
Group chair Mike
Edwards has issued the following statement, which llanblogger bring you here,
unedited:
As
Chair of Keep Llangollen Special a constructive Community Group I would like to
comment
on recent speculative comments about the proposals recently published by Betsi
Cadwaladr University Health Board in relation to rationalisation of their
services across the whole of their area.
Firstly
this document takes quite a bit of absorbing because it extends to 139 pages
covering
the Authority wide revised service delivery proposals and only outlines in
specific sections how those revisions affect Llangollen.
Therefore
before taking a definitive view on these proposals the Group consider they need
further information and we have requested a meeting with representatives from
BCUHB to find out what exactly is proposed and the timing of these proposals.
We
also propose to meet with relevant local stakeholders to confirm that they have
been properly consulted and what their views are on the proposals.
We
are also speaking with our democratically elected representatives particularly
Ken Skates AM, Councillors Rhys Hughes, Stuart Davies and Phil Thane, the
latter being a member of Keep Llangollen Special.
I
wish to make it clear that Mr. Skates has been helpful in seeking information
and clarification from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board which has
enabled us to discover:
1.
The Llangollen Community Hospital is likely to close early in 2013 and the
Health
Board
propose to sell the property;
2.
Their Home Enhanced Care Scheme is already apparently progressing well and
BCUHB
envisage all health services will ultimately delivered from a new Primary Care
Centre;
3.
However the Health Board have to submit a full business case to Welsh
Government to acquire the former Woodlands Hotel now referred to as Riverside
Lodge where they propose to build the Primary Care Centre.
They
will also need to obtain planning consent for the development;
4.
This means that the Health Board envisage the new health centre would not be
open until late 2014/early 2015;
5.
The local GP practice would apparently prefer a hospital with beds, but the
Health
Board
have not been specific that the new centre would include such facilities and
refer to in-patient care being provided in Chirk and/or in nursing homes (no locations defined):
The
big concern with these proposals is that the Llangollen Community Hospital is
likely to close very soon, but the replacement Primary Care Centre will not
open until 2015 without allowing for delays in BCUHB's scheme.
It
is also of great concern that the Health Board seem not to wish to include
in-patient facilities which will lead to Llangollen residents (patients and
relatives) having to travel out of town to Chirk, Wrexham or wherever.
There
is also a fear that services will be lost in the two year period between
closure
of the existing hospital and opening of the new Health Centre.
The
current Health Centre in Regent Street is conveniently located in the centre of
town enabling able bodied patients to walk to see their GP, be it from the A5
or Abbey Road side of town.
Location
of a centre at the Riverside Lodge will fail Welsh Governments Planning
Policies
in relation to sustainability because it will increase vehicle journeys being
located on the edge of the built up area on a busy main road with either narrow
or no pavements making it extremely difficult for patients to visit.
If
the Health Boards Scheme goes ahead we need assurances that capital receipts
from the sale of the hospital and Oakleigh will be re-invested in Llangollen
and that these sites will be developed for users which are acceptably to the
Community. There will also be a question as to what happens to the existing health
centre after the GP Practice moves out and that there are no knock on loss of
facilities out of the town centre such as Pharmacy, Dentistry which the Health
Board mention may be relocated to the new "Out-of-Town” Primary Care
Centre.
These
proposals could further endanger the vitality and viability of the existing
town centre.
There
are many questions to be answered and it is hoped that a forthcoming public
consultation
by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board will provide Llangollen
residents
with acceptable answers. Keep Llangollen Special will keep residents informed
as further information is provided and our questions are answered.
Mike
Edwards
Chair Keep Llangollen Special
The full BCUHB report can be seen at: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/861/opendoc/194480
Llangollen Cottage Hospital is referred to on pages 41 and
42.
No comments:
Post a Comment