5. What assessment has the Minister made of the condition of hospital estates across Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board? OQ59042

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is responsible for the condition of its own estate. It can submit business cases to the Welsh Government for capital funding for its assessed priorities, which have to be considered against the backdrop of significant capital pressures across NHS Wales.  

Thank you for your response, Minister. I'm sure you're able to anticipate what I'm going to say, as it was reported in the BBC last week that only 62 per cent of buildings owned by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board are classed as operationally safe. In Abergele hospital, which serves my constituents well, only 15 per cent of the building complies with modern day health and safety standards. The reason for this is primarily that the board has many old buildings with high running costs and old infrastructure that haven't moved with the times or modern-day health needs. My question is: if you look at this objectively, Minister, do you think that in the long term it would help the board make estate savings by investing more now in new building infrastructure, such as north Denbighshire community hospital in Rhyl, so that we can ensure better healthcare for local people in a way that also lowers running costs and is environmentally friendlier, allowing us to invest more in front-line services? 

Thanks very much. I would love to invest more in our capital estate, but unfortunately our funding from the UK Government, when it comes to capital budgets, has not increased, and that does make life very difficult for us. What I will say is that over the past 10 years Betsi has received £455 million in capital expenditure, which is about 14 per cent of the Welsh total. That includes about £170 million on Ysbyty Glan Clwyd; £20 million on neonatal in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd; in Ysbyty Gwynedd, £14 million for the emergency department; £5 million in Flint; £4 million in Blaenau Ffestiniog; and £5 million in Tywyn. I could go on and on. The point is, we are trying to do our best. You do have to prioritise in these difficult circumstances, but obviously there has been an increase in the backlog figures, because, as you say, of the age of many of those major and acute sites, which is why what we have asked is that the health board considers what they think the priorities should be, and then obviously we as a Government will make a judgment after that.