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Welsh health board consults on closing three Gwynedd urgent care centres
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is consulting on ending urgent primary care at three Gwynedd hospitals by March 2027, BBC Wales reports, as campaigners warn of extra strain on GPs and A&E.
- New headline Was: “Closing urgent care centres would have 'dire consequences', say campaigners”
- Our desk filed its story
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is consulting on a proposal to end urgent primary care centre services at three hospitals in Gwynedd, Wales, BBC Wales reported on Saturday1.
The sites named are Ysbyty Penrhos Stanley in Holyhead, Ysbyty Alltwen in Tremadog and Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor1.
If the plan is approved, the centres would close by 31 March 20271.
The board said access to urgent care remained a priority but that the centres had faced financial pressure and ongoing recruitment difficulties1.
The Gwynedd urgent primary care centres opened in 2022 and are staffed by advanced nurse practitioners, GPs and physiotherapists who treat people with urgent problems the same day1.
Campaigners and local politicians say shutting them would add pressure on GP practices and emergency departments, the services the centres were set up to ease1.
Holyhead county councillor Jeff Evans said closing the Holyhead facility would have "dire consequences for the community and patients"1.
Conservative Member of the Senedd Janet Finch-Saunders said the centres help when people cannot get a GP appointment but need immediate care, and that waiting times could rise without them1.
Plaid Cymru MP Llinos Medi, Reform Wales Senedd member Helen Jenner and Finch-Saunders are among those who have written to the board, including over further loss of services at Ysbyty Penrhos Stanley after a four-bed hospice unit closed in 20251.
Chief executive Carol Shillabeer said the board was reviewing current urgent primary care provision and engaging with staff, with a future approach to be developed in coming months1.
The Welsh government said local NHS service configuration is the health board's responsibility and that organisations should engage openly with stakeholders under national guidance1.
BBC Wales said the proposal would not affect urgent primary care centres at Mold Community Hospital or Wrexham Maelor Hospital1. The board spent nine years in special measures and was given a further improvement deadline in June, the report said1. Not medical advice.