\n Plaid Cymru councillors have called for the health board and Wrexham Council to work together to ensure The Groves school site, which has been derelict for more than a decade, is brought back to use.\n<\/p>\n
\n They say the new facility will ease pressure on the “over-stretched” Wrexham Maelor Hospital and provide step-down care for many people who do not need to be in acute beds.\n<\/p>\n
\n Plaid Cymru’s group leader on Wrexham Council Marc Jones said: “The Groves site has lain derelict for more than a decade and there has been a lot of speculation about what it could be used for.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Various schemes have fallen through and there’s no sign of anything positive being done with this important town-centre site.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n “At the same time, we all recognise that the local district general hospital, the Maelor, is under huge pressures – in part this is because of a lack of community options to move people out of acute beds.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The Groves (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Carrie Harper added: \u201cCreating a community hospital provides a way to release that pressure – it\u2019s vital we unblock the logjam that means ambulances are stuck outside A&E for hours, while patients who are fit to be discharged can\u2019t leave hospital. It would also help to address the parking congestion at the Maelor.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Obviously there are challenges to delivering this kind of project. There’s the initial cost – a similar plan for a community hospital at the old Alex site in Rhyl is estimated to cost \u00a3102 million – but this is the sort of capital investment we need to see in our communities. It’s an investment because it provides much-needed breathing space for the over-stretched Maelor.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The other challenge is staffing such a facility when there are already nursing and clinical vacancies in Betsi Cadwaladr health board.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Becca Martin\n<\/p>\n
\n The councillor representing the local ward of Acton and Maesydre, where The Groves is situated, is Becca Martin.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: \u201cI fully support this type of development on The Groves site. The Maelor has a consistent shortage of beds, which has a knock-on effect throughout the entire hospital. Being able to free up these beds by utilising the site in this way will hopefully result in a faster and smoother experience for all those needing hospital care. I would also welcome the development of a site that has been left dormant and neglected for far too long.”\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Jones added that a new hospital in the heart of Wrexham would bring new life to a derelict site: “Ensuring a training and educational aspect to the site would meet the educational covenant on the site and we need to see some joined-up thinking between our various institutions to benefit the people of Wrexham.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Better healthcare has a beneficial knock-on effect for the council’s social care commitments – these should be integrated seamlessly anyway. More minor injuries, rehabilitation and preventative work could be located at a new community hospital rather than trying to shoehorn all services on one limited site.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It’s an opportunity to do something that people can see will have a beneficial impact for hundreds of people who don’t need to be in an acute bed and it brings a derelict building back into use. We’re putting this proposal forward in the hope that both the health board and council will respond positively and look to develop the site for our mutual benefit. It’s an idea that deserves to be explored further.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The local authority appear to be open to finding a solution to the situation at the Groves, amid ongoing costs and issues with vandalism.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n MOST READ:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n Alwyn Jones, Wrexham Council\u2019s Interim Chief Executive, said: \u201cWe have worked tirelessly to find a solution for the Groves, and will continue to do so.\n<\/p>\n \n “We did originally hope to build two new schools on the site, but the building was listed by Welsh Government and we were unable to progress these plans.\n<\/p>\n \n “We\u2019ve been close to finding other solutions on a number of occasions, but these didn\u2019t come to fruition, which has been frustrating.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIn the meantime, we\u2019re faced with the ongoing cost of insurance and security to keep the Groves safe from issues like vandalism and adverse weather, so we want to find a use for the site more than anyone.\n<\/p>\n \n “It\u2019s a complex and challenging situation, but we\u2019ll keep working hard with partners to explore different options and find a way forward.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n However, it seems Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) have no interest in the proposal currently.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n A spokesperson for BCUHB: “The Health Board has no plans to progress a clinical development on The Grove site at this time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plaid Cymru councillors have called for the health board and Wrexham Council to work together to ensure The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-342575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115024444968467617","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}