Building begins at hospital site

Work will begin on the hospital buildings in September

Work is due to begin at the site of a £13.5m north Wales community hospital serving the Porthmadog area.

Ysbyty Alltwen in Tremadog, will have 30 beds as well as a minor injuries unit and outpatient, X-ray and rehabilitation departments.

The new hospital will replace Ysbyty Bron y Garth in Penrhyndeudraeth.

Building work is due to take about 18 months and it is expected that the hospital will open its doors by the end of 2007.

Plans for Ysbyty Alltwen were given the final go-ahead in October 2004 after a 15-year campaign for a community hospital.

'Real progress'

There was a delay in 2005 over the design of the hospital's roof, but work is due to begin on Tuesday.

The opening of work will see the start of site clearance before the foundations can be laid.

Work on the building itself is likely to start in September.

Stan Nuttall, project manager for the North West Wales NHS Trust said: "It has been a long process to reach this stage but we will now be able to see some real progress over the next few months as the foundations are laid before surface building work begins in September.

"We expect to be able to open the hospital in late 2007 when it will play a valuable role in the provision of local healthcare."

E. Selwyn Griffiths, secretary of the Porthmadog Hospital Action Group, which campaigned for the hospital to be built, said he was glad that the building work was starting.

"I look forward towards an year and a half from now when the hospital will open officially," he said.

"It's a shame that there have been so many problems along the way but things have worked out fine in the end....I don't foresee that there will be any more problems.

"The community hospital will be very valuable to the community and I hope to see a better standard of care for local people because they will be treated in the community."