A NEW community hospital for Denbighshire could still be developed - but could possibly take a different shape or form.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) are keen to see "what is possible" in terms of developing the Royal Alexandra in Rhyl within the current financial climate.

Plans for a new North Denbighshire Community Hospital, on the former Royal Alexandra site, were revealed in 2013.

Proposals included community beds, a same day minor injuries and illness service, a treatment zone, outpatient therapy services, sexual health, community dental, radiology, adult psychology and mental health services.

The project has been beset by delay since the estimated cost ballooned from £22m to around £80m. The project remains frozen; it is awaiting Welsh Government approval and the allocation of funds.

Carol Shillabeer, CEO of BCUHB, said: "The health board is keen to see what is possible in terms of developing the Royal Alexandra Hospital within the current financial climate. Discussions are taking place between the health board, Denbighshire County Council and Welsh Government.

"With the rise in costs for supplies and materials since the original business case, we are collectively looking at what could be taken forward to invest in the site in light of known pressures on capital budgets.”

The business case for the new hospital was agreed back in March 2021.

Darren Millar, Clwyd West MS and Shadow Minister for North Wales, has repeatedly challenged Welsh Government Ministers over their failure to get the much-needed facility off the ground.
 
Last week in the Senedd, he raised the matter again.
 
He said: "I’d like an update on the delivery of the North Denbighshire Community Hospital.
 
“There have been some positive developments of late, in that I know there have been discussions taking place between the BCUHB, Denbighshire County Council and the Welsh Government, about getting that project back into the pipeline.

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“It's over a decade since a new hospital was promised. We were told in 2016 that it would be delivered within three years. It's now 2024. We've just started the new year and I think people in North Denbighshire, and, indeed, the other parts of the North Wales coast that this hospital will serve are looking for some good news.”
 
Lesley Griffiths MS, minister for Rural Affairs, North Wales and Trefnydd, replied: " I know there have been further discussions with BCUHB and the minister for Health and Social Services's officials. I will ask her - I don't think it appropriate for an oral statement, but I will certainly ask her, if there is further information, to write to you.”
 
Speaking afterwards, Mr Millar said: "Glan Clwyd Hospital is hugely overstretched and this hospital will help relieve pressures there and deliver the health service that the residents of North Wales need and deserve.”

New "state of the art" x-ray equipment is currently being installed at the Royal Alex and Denbigh Infirmary Community Hospital. Installation work started on Monday, January 15 and it will be three months until the equipment is operational.

The upgraded equipment will be easier to use and produce images "more quickly and with better definition, while emitting lower doses of radiation than its predecessors."