MSs told “Local health boards must prioritise their own proposals for investment in the NHS estate “

The First Minister has said “local health boards must prioritise their own proposals for investment in the NHS estate” after coming under fire over the lack of investment in a community hospital in North Wales.

Darren Millar MS asked the First Minister on the issue, “First Minister, it’ll come as no surprise to you that I’m going to ask again: where is the investment for the north Denbighshire community hospital? We know that, down the road from the proposed location of the north Denbighshire community hospital in Rhyl, we have a hospital in Bodelwyddan that is really struggling. In fact, it has the worst A&E performance against the eight-hour target and the worst A&E performance against the 12-hour target in Wales, and that is unacceptable. We have one in five people waiting over 12 hours in A&E to be discharged. Now, clearly, there needs to be some action.

“One of the solutions that has previously been supported by the Welsh Government has been the establishment of a new north Denbighshire community hospital, with a minor injuries unit, to take pressure off Glan Clwyd, but we’re yet to see a spade in the ground, and it’s been 10 years since the hospital was promised. When can the people of my constituency, and people elsewhere in north Wales, who could be served by this hospital, see that work under way?”

The First Minister pointed to the difference between an outline costing and the full costing, “I thank Darren Millar for the question. Of course, as he says, I’m not surprised to hear him raise the issue, because he has raised it persistently and powerfully on the floor of the Senedd. As I’ve said to him previously, however, a strategic outline case that came in at £22 million is now a full business case reported at £72 million, and that is such a material change in the proposal that the discussion between the Welsh Government and the board has to continue.

“Now, the health Minister met the board and said in terms to them that they, with their partners, have to prioritise the many schemes that the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has in the making. And, when we receive that sense of prioritisation, which is yet to be delivered to the Welsh Government, then we will be able to make decisions in relation to the north Denbighshire community hospital. In the meantime, I fully understand why the local Member goes on making the case that he does.”

The First Minister then detailed Welsh Government finances, “Not only is the value of the Welsh budget being eroded by inflation, but the cash available for capital investment is going down. In 2024-25, there will be a further 11 per cent reduction in the capital available to the Welsh Government for all the purposes that we have to discharge.

“Indeed, in the spring statement, Members here will remember that the total additional capital investment made available to the Welsh Government for that hospital in Denbigh, for transport in north Wales, for the housing that we need in every part of Wales, as we heard earlier, was £1 million—£1 million for all of those purposes that we have to discharge here in this Senedd. That is the root of the answer to so many of the questions that have been raised here this afternoon. You cannot invest in the way we would want to when we’re denied the investment we need.”