August 18, 2025 - 747 views
The leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Darren Millar, has criticised the Welsh Government for downsizing redevelopment plans for the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Rhyl.
Initial plans for a new North Denbighshire Community Hospital were announced in 2013 but have been scaled back to only 14 beds and fewer services.
Millar called the revised plans unacceptable and urged the Welsh Government to fulfill their promises to improve healthcare services in North Wales.
Back in 2013, plans for a new North Denbighshire Community Hospital, on the former Royal Alexandra site, were revealed. Plans included 30 inpatient beds, including 18 inpatient beds for older people with mental health problems, as well as an x-ray department, ultrasound facilities and a pharmacy, and a Minor Injuries Unit to take pressure off nearby Glan Clwyd Hospital.
Since the announcement 12 years ago, hospitals have been built in South Wales, but the North Wales project failed to materialise, despite continued pressure from Darren and other Welsh Conservative elected representatives.
Commenting Mr. Millar said: “Twelve years ago, the people of North Denbighshire were promised this incredible new hospital which would relieve pressures on Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and greatly improve the patient experience.
“The project has been beset by delays since the estimated costs ballooned and people have been left wondering whether the promised new facility would ever materialise.
“Today, we have been insulted with massively scaled back plans, even though pressures at Glan Clwyd are worse than they were twelve years ago.
"This is totally unacceptable, and the Welsh Government must now deliver on its many pre-election promises. Anything less will be an insult to people in the locality.
“Given the dire state of health services here in North Wales, they should be looking at increasing the number of hospital beds, not slashing them."
He added: "Given that a new hospital in South Wales was promised after ours and has been built and open for years, the lack of a new hospital in Rhyl provides yet further evidence of the North South divide under Labour in Wales."
