Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:30 pm on 7 May 2019.
Would you agree with me that a private hospital that’s about to be built in the St Asaph area shows that the closure of community hospitals back in 2013 was a mistake? Because some 50 beds were lost when the community hospitals were lost in Flint, Llangollen, Prestatyn and Blaenau Ffestiniog. Now, many of us warned, as did many GPs and others, at the time that that step-up, step-down provision was required, particularly with an ageing population in north Wales. But the health board and your Government insisted on the closure of those hospitals. And now we see a private hospital with 63 beds to be built not a stone's throw from Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, just to fill that gap that was left. And it’s not me saying that; it’s the developers themselves who are saying that. So, what we’re seeing, to all intents and purposes, is the privatisation of another layer of the health service in Wales because of the closure of those community hospitals. Now, isn’t that scandalous, and shouldn’t you and the health board explain to the people of north Wales why you’ve allowed this to happen?