New hospital plans to be decided

The hospital was paid for by the miners in the area

A hospital paid for by the miners of a south Wales valley is threatened with closure to make way for a new general hospital.

Caerphilly District Miners' Hospital could be closed if plans for a new hospital are approved.

Members of the local health board will make their decision about the future of the hospital on Wednesday.

It was built in 1923 for the 24,000 miners and their families who worked in the 29 pits of the Rhymney Valley.

Members of the local health board will decide whether to give the go-ahead for a new general hospital to replace the existing community hospitals in the Caerphilly area.

Several public meetings have been held about the proposals.

I don't think a lot of people realise the possibility that we will lose this hospital Jean Williams, Caerphilly Health Watch

But local campaigners want to see the Caerphilly Miners' remain open in some form.

The hospital was paid for by the miners in the area and has been providing medical services for the last 80 years.

Jean Williams, the chair of Caerphilly Health Watch, worked as a nurse at the hospital for 18 years.

"We've got serious concerns, like a number of people about these proposals," she said.

"Caerphilly is growing so quickly but I don't think a lot of people realise the possibility that we will lose this hospital.

"We would like to see it remain open with about 30 beds so that people who are not quite ready to go home can have an extra week or so in hospital care.

"I don't think people have had enough information about the proposal.

"It is a most wonderful hospital and if it closes it will be the end of an era."

She said she had concerns that the proposed general hospital would be unable to cope with the numbers of patients if the local hospitals closed.

We had a lot of informal consultation and a three month formal consultation Judith Paget, Caerphilly Local Health Board

And her comments were supported by staff at the hospital.

One member of staff, who did not want to be named, said: "There is a lot of pride in the hospital and a lot of affection for it.

"I don't really think that centralisation of the services is going to work and a lot of my colleagues think the same."

But Judith Paget, the chief executive of Caerphilly Local Health Board said that extensive consultation had been carried out about the plans.

"We had a lot of informal consultation, asking people what they liked, what they wanted to see and then we had a three-month formal consultation about the plans.

"We have been consulting on plans to build a new hospital in the borough which would result in the closure of all the smaller hospitals and the local health board is looking at that proposal.

"If it goes ahead, it will not open until 2009.

Shelley Wharf wants the hospital to remain open

"It is for a local general hospital with 266 beds which will be built in a central location."

She said that a decision about the plans would be made at a public meeting in the Oasis Christian Community Centre in Cefn Forest, Blackwood on Wednesday at 1400 BST.

In Caerphilly, people were hoping that the hospital could be saved.

Shelley Wharf, 33, from Caerphilly said she was shocked they were thinking of closing the hospital.

"I don't think they should close it at all.

"One of my children was born there and it is nice to know we can have access to local hospital care instead of having to travel to Cardiff."

Jenny Robertson, 56, from nearby Bedwas agreed.

Tudor Rees said it would be sad if the hospital shut

"I think they should keep it open, smaller hospitals seem to provide better services and are not so impersonal."

And Tudor Rees who was brought up in the town said it would be a mistake for the hospital to be closed.

"It would be a very sorrowful thing indeed if they closed it."