Health board accused of misleading public over hospital closure

Health board managers have been accused of misleading the public, staff and patients over their ‘temporary’ closure of a hospital in the run up to Christmas last year.

Betsi Cadwaladr health board released a statement at the time which stated that under-occupancy was the reason for the ‘temporary’ closure, with patients in just three of the eight beds at Penley community hospital.

However, Plaid Cymru councillors have established that just a week before Christmas, there were six patients being treated as in-patients at the hospital.

In a Freedom of Information response to Councillor Marc Jones, Betsi Cadwaladr managers have also admitted that staff were not consulted as per their own protocols before the closure and that the governing body of the health board itself was only informed of the closure on 20 December 2024, the same day as the actual closure.

Protocols

Cllr Jones said: “It’s six months since the ‘temporary’ closure with no sign of a re-opening. We now know the health board misled the press, patients and public over this matter and failed to adhere to its own protocols about keeping staff informed.

“We also know that it’s trying to offload the site for other uses. There is clearly no intention to re-open it as a community hospital.

“It’s taken months to try to get some more honest answers from senior management on this matter and that’s not good enough when patients are in desperate need of step-down beds rather than facing corridor care in hospitals such as Wrexham Maelor.

“The lack of openness and transparency is a concern but this is part of a wider historic pattern of closing community hospitals that can play such an important part in easing pressure on district general hospitals such as the Maelor and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd. Losing community beds in places such as Llangollen and Flint more than a decade ago, when it was known we would have greater demand due to an ageing population, is poor planning to say the least.

Public meeting

Cllr Jones continued: “If the real decision was made to save money, it’s come at a high price. Patients and their families have been disrupted, staff have been left in limbo and in some cases have left the health board as a result. The ultimate responsibility lies with the Welsh Government because Betsi Cadwaldr health board remains in special measures and under direct control of the health minister.

“So will the health board – which meets on May 29th – state its intentions over this ‘temporary’ closure and engage with the community over how we ensure adequate step-down beds in the community for the future? That’s a challenge they can’t duck.”

The Health Board has confirmed it will be discussing the temporary closure of the hospital at its public meeting later this month.

This will include consideration of how local people are engaged in the development of health services in the area.