Local MP calls for new “modern hospital” to replace the Wrexham Maelor

Wrexham’s MP has called for a new hospital to be built in the new city centre to replace the Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Sarah Atherton MP says that since being elected in 2019 she has been “inundated with complaints” from constituents struggling to access healthcare.

The examples given include waiting over 15 hours to be seen in A&E and constituents turning to payday loans to fund private operations after spending years on surgery waiting lists.

In August this year, the Wrexham Maelor Hospital was ranked the worst in Wales for the number of patients seen within the four-hour waiting time target in A&E.

In response to constituent calls and reports of failing Welsh NHS services, Sarah Atherton launched a healthcare campaign in 2021 calling on the Welsh Government to fund improved access to healthcare, a Wrexham walk-in-centre and put clinicians at the heart of the decision-making processes.

Back in August the MP met with Ian Donnelly, the Managing Director at the Wrexham Maelor to review the emergency care provision at the hospital, to visit the new Urgent Primary Care Centre and heard of plans to open Plas Gororau in 2023.

Sarah Atherton MP commented: “I trained as a nurse at the Maelor and then returned at the start of the pandemic, so I know both the Maelor and Welsh healthcare system well. I have therefore seen first-hand how it is failing Wrexham residents.

“The NHS in devolved in Wales, so healthcare is run entirely by the Welsh Government.

“It is particularly worrying that whilst I already hear horrendous healthcare stories from constituents, the Welsh Government continues to fail to prioritise spending money where it matters most to constituents and does not address these issues.

“Despite the UK Government handing the Welsh Government £18 billion a year, which is the largest annual funding settlement to Wales since devolution began, access to healthcare in Wrexham is getting worse.

“Wales has the money to pay for this new hospital and I will work tirelessly to lobby the Welsh Government to fund this new hospital.

“The Maelor is a failing ‘cut and shut’ hospital; Wrexham needs a modern hospital for a modern city with modern needs.’