£57M PLAN TO UPGRADE ‘POOR’ ACCOMMODATION AT HOSPITALS

A SHAKE-UP of accommodation for NHS staff in North Wales has been proposed after workers slammed the “extremely poor” quality of living standards.

Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board wants to spend just under £56m on overhauling hospital residences in the region.

It comes after officials said the existing accommodation, most of which was built in the 1970s, was putting people off coming to work in the area.

A staff survey was previously carried out to gauge views on the four existing sites at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, and Abergele Hospital.

Around 56% of the 91 workers who took part described living quarters on offer as “poor” or “very poor”, with one branding them “extremely poor and demoralising”.

The health board is now looking to refurbish or rebuild its housing stock after another staff member said their accommodation was “mouldy, dirty and poorly maintained”.

In a report, Rod Taylor, director of estates and facilities, said: “The health board’s existing portfolio of residential accommodation is in a poor state of repair and requires significant levels of investment to redevelop the estate to make it fit-for-purpose and compliant.

“The estate is failing to deliver modern, energy efficient and fit-for-purpose facilities and backlog maintenance is high.

“The accommodation has therefore been identified as a key area of risk for the health board and is one of its priority areas for investment.”

Betsi Cadwaladr provides housing for a range of workers, including medical students, junior doctors and staff from overseas. At full capacity, 731 people can be accommodated within its 549 housing units.

However, 18 of them are out of use as they are said to be not fit for purpose.

Mr Taylor said that the standard of accommodation was hampering its efforts to attract and retain staff.

He said: “Wales has a net outflow of workers and there are recruitment shortfalls in a number of professions and specialties. In response to these challenges, Welsh Government has set out clearly the strategic importance it places on recruitment and retention of high-quality NHS staff.

“It has also made clear it wants medical students to be trained in Wales and become qualified doctors residing and serving the population of Wales.

“High quality, affordable accommodation is one factor that can help enable these ambitions.”

The preferred option would require approximately £55.8m worth of capital funding to be made available by the Welsh Government.

Board members will be asked to approve submitting a business case to ministers when they meet this Thursday, January 21.

They are also being requested to support ongoing discussions with social landlords about providing affordable accommodation for health workers.