The redevelopment of the Royal Alexandra Hospital site in Rhyl to create a new, fit-for-purpose North Denbighshire Hospital has been desperately needed for a number of years. This has been made ever clearer in recent years in view of the fact that Glan Clwyd Hospital is under immense pressure and has been struggling to cope. This new facility in Rhyl would ease some of the pressure and provide people with health services they can better depend on.
The Royal Alexandra Hospital site is more accessible than Glan Clwyd Hospital for many living on the coast and could provide a wide range of important services.
Final plans for the site set out that services will include:
- Community beds, a same-day minor injuries and illness service, a treatment zone, and outpatient therapy and IV therapy services
- Sexual health, community dental, radiology, adult psychology, older people’s mental health, and child and adolescent mental health services
- Infrastructure improvements, including multi-disciplinary working spaces and car parking enhancements
- The refurbishment of the existing Grade-II listed hospital building, as well as a new-build modern hospital
I have been involved with this project since its inception. I argued in 2012, when a county councillor, that Chatsworth House Community Hospital in Prestatyn should not shut until a replacement such as this was in place.
Over the last decade, I have taken every opportunity to emphasise the importance of a new Royal Alexandra Hospital to Ministers in the Welsh Government, who are ultimately responsible for following through on the project. Indeed, this hospital was promised to the people of North Denbighshire by the then Health Minister, and now First Minister, Mark Drakeford, back in 2013. However, regrettably they have not been as supportive of the plans as I would wish.
It was hoped that the Welsh Government would release capital funding to begin construction in December 2021. This did not materialise. I wrote to the Welsh Health Minister in January 2022 to register my concern.
Having not heard of progress from the Welsh Government on the project for some months, I wrote to the Health Minister again in May 2022, stating that eight years without any significant progress was unacceptable.
Months later, we were told there was a chance it could not go ahead at all. Therefore, I wrote directly to the First Minister in October 2022 to raise the importance of progressing with this development as quickly as possible. You can read this letter below. I received a response from the Welsh Health Minister who again stated that a decision was yet to be made.
The Health Minister at Cardiff Bay stated in her response me that, "significant pressures [are] being experienced across NHS Wales schemes", and that, "difficult choices will need to, and are having to be made".
However, having obtained health capital budget figures for both Wales and England for comparison, I am not convinced this response stands up to scrutiny.
These figures show that for 2022/23 England plans to spend £185 per head on NHS capital projects, compared to £106 per head in Wales. The Barnett formula currently gives Wales a 20% funding premium, so spending on new hospital buildings in Wales is far lower than where it ought to be.
I am clear that constituents in the Vale of Clwyd deserve better than this, and it is vital that the Welsh Government get their priorities right. The North Denbighshire Hospital is what constituents need, rather than more politicians in Cardiff Bay and an unworkable, costly scheme to create a blanket 20mph national speed limit.
I will continue to push the Welsh Labour Government to prioritise this development and reach a positive decision on the Full Business Case as a matter of urgency.
I am also working with the Health Board to encourage options for part of the development to be funded via other (regional) means.
