Hospital cuts follow £9m deficit

No jobs are expected to be lost in the cuts

A north Wales hospital is being forced to make cuts due to a deficit at the local NHS trust of £9m.

Proposed cuts at Wrexham Maelor Hospital include a ward closure and the merger of its two X-ray departments.

It follows meetings between North East Wales NHS Trust and Wrexham and Flintshire local health boards (LHB), which have a combined £9m deficit.

Geoff Lang, of Wrexham LHB, said: "Ignoring the problem will not make it go away."

The deficit in north east Wales is repeated in many areas of Wales where trusts face similar problems.

Although some of these measures will be difficult to put in place, it is important that we take decisive action now Geoff Lang, Wrexham LHB

In north east Wales, rising fuel, staffing and drug costs are among factors blamed for the deficit.

Under the cuts, Wrexham Maelor's low dependency ward will close to become a discharge lounge for patients in an attempt to free up hospital beds.

Other cuts include tighter controls on travel, and using cheaper medication where appropriate.

No jobs are expected to be lost in the cuts.

'Financial gap'

Wrexham LHB said the cuts were possible without disrupting patient care.

Geoff Lang, chief executive, said: "Although some of these measures will be difficult to put in place, it is important that we take decisive action now.

"Ignoring the problem will not make it go away, in fact it will just mean that the financial gap will widen.

"Unless we act now we would eventually be forced to make cuts in an unplanned manner that would have a significant effect on patient care.

"However, at the moment, we have the chance to put in place local plans to modernise services and improve efficiency so that we can resolve the financial difficulties without undermining patient care either now or in the future."

During the last week, the North East Wales NHS Trust has held a series of meetings with the staff of departments affected by the changes to explain the proposals.

The trust said it planned further meetings with staff.