Plaid Cymru launches campaign to improve health care in Wrexham
Campaigners have launched a bid to open a community hospital at a derelict school site in the heart of Wrexham.
Plaid Cymru councillors have called for the health board and Wrexham Council to work together to ensure The Groves school site, which has lain derelict for more than a decade, is brought back to use. They say the new facility will ease pressure on the over-stretched Ysbyty Wrecsam Maelor and provide step-down care for many people who do not need to be in acute beds.
Plaid Cymru's group leader on Wrexham Council Marc Jones said: "The Groves site has lain derelict for more than a decade and there has been a lot of speculation about what it could be used for. Various schemes have fallen through and there's no sign of anything positive being done with this important town-centre site.
"At the same time, we all recognise that the local district general hospital, the Maelor, is under huge pressures - in part this is because of a lack of community options to move people out of acute beds.”
Cllr Carrie Harper added: “Creating a community hospital provides a way to release that pressure - it’s vital we unblock the logjam that means ambulances are stuck outside A&E for hours, while patients who are fit to be discharged can’t leave hospital. It would also help to address the parking congestion at the Maelor.
"Obviously there are challenges to delivering this kind of project. There's the initial cost - a similar plan for a community hospital at the old Alex site in Rhyl is estimated to cost £102 million - but this is the sort of capital investment we need to see in our communities. It's an investment because it provides much-needed breathing space for the over-stretched Maelor.
"The other challenge is staffing such a facility when there are already nursing and clinical vacancies in Betsi Cadwaladr health board. We believe there is scope to work with Wrexham University, which is providing a great variety of training for nurses and allied health professions such as paramedics and radiographers, to ensure there is a guaranteed job for those graduating from the university's courses."
The councillor representing the local ward of Acton and Maesydre, where The Groves is situated, is Becca Martin. She said: “I fully support this type of development on The Groves site. The Maelor has a consistent shortage of beds, which has a knock-on effect throughout the entire hospital. Being able to free up these beds by utilising the site in this way will hopefully result in a faster and smoother experience for all those needing hospital care. I would also welcome the development of a site that has been left dormant and neglected for far too long."
Cllr Jones added that a new hospital in the heart of Wrexham would bring new life to a derelict site: "Ensuring a training and educational aspect to the site would meet the educational covenant on the site and we need to see some joined-up thinking between our various institutions to benefit the people of Wrexham. Better healthcare has a beneficial knock-on effect for the council's social care commitments - these should be integrated seamlessly anyway. More minor injuries, rehabilitation and preventative work could be located at a new community hospital rather than trying to shoehorn all services on one limited site.
"It's an opportunity to do something that people can see will have a beneficial impact for hundreds of people who don't need to be in an acute bed and it brings a derelict building back into use. We're putting this proposal forward in the hope that both the health board and council will respond positively and look to develop the site for our mutual benefit. It's an idea that deserves to be explored further."
===========================================================================
BACKGROUND PAPER
This paper seeks to address two problems.
One is the pressure on hospital services at the Maelor Hospital, one of three District General Hospitals in north Wales.
The other is finding a community use for The Groves site, a former school that has lain derelict for almost 20 years, near the centre of Wrecsam.
NEED FOR NEW COMMUNITY HOSPITAL IN WRECSAM
Despite being the largest town in north Wales, Wrecsam does not have a community hospital to deal with intermediate care - step-down from a DGH or step-up from home-based care. The direction of travel for community hospitals within Betsi Cadwaladr health board has been to close and centralise secondary care over the past decades with sites such as Penley, Flint and Llangollen being closed, thus reducing beds in the community.
This, we contend, has had the effect of increasing pressure on Ysbyty Wrecsam Maelor's bed capacity and reducing BCUHB's ability to discharge patients to a community setting.
Community hospitals can offer specialised services like rehabilitation and preventative care, tailoring services to the specific needs of the local population. It could also offer training and educational opportunities for the many students studying for health and social care qualifications in Wrexham University and Coleg Cambria. This is relevant given the educational covenant on the building.
Smaller, more intimate facilities such as these can provide a more personal and supportive environment for patients, leading to better patient satisfaction and ultimately a more speedy recovery.
A community hospital can become a hub for health and well-being, offering educational programmes, support groups and community events, fostering health prevention and community engagement.
A growing elderly population means greater health pressures so it's vital to plan for extra community capacity in the Wrexham area.
COST
The most recent comparable example of a community hospital's cost is in Rhyl, which is estimated to cost £102m in an existing historic building. This would be comparable to the proposal to site a community hospital in The Groves building, currently a listed building with an educational covenant.
No comments:
Post a Comment