North Wales health board not planning to use community hospitals for coronavirus patients yet

A health board has said it is not contemplating using community hospitals or medical centres to house coronavirus patients yet.

Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board said it was following national guidance and using main hospitals to contain the outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus but was “constantly reviewing” the situation.

The response came after a former Denbighshire councillor, Stuart Davies, asked why the health board was not utilising Llangollen Medical Centre.

Mr Davies, who ran Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s failed 1997 general election campaign to capture Clwyd South, said the centre was supposed to house dental, minor injuries and social services units.

However he claimed it was being underused. He said: “We have here in Llangollen a brand new medical centre, they closed our cottage hospital to build it.

“If we are going to be short of beds why don’t they put some beds in some of those rooms that were supposed to be for dentists, MIUs and social services?”

Asked whether smaller community hospitals would be used to take coronavirus patients, or those displaced to make way for them in larger hospitals, a Betsi Cadwaladr spokesman said: “We are following national guidance by using capacity within our main hospitals to manage patients with suspected coronavirus.

“We are constantly reviewing how we use the resources available to us to ensure we have the capacity we need to care for patients.

“We continue to ask the public’s support by following the latest guidance from Public Health Wales.

“People with a fever or persistent cough should stay at home for seven days if they live alone, or 14 days if they live with others.

“Anyone who lives with someone displaying coronavirus symptoms should also stay at home for 14 days. They should not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

“They should only contact NHS 111 if they feel they cannot cope with their symptoms at home, their condition gets worse, or their symptoms do not get better after seven days.”

By Jez Hemming – Local Democracy Reporter