YSBYTY GWYNEDD
Massive A&E revamp planned
PLANS for a massive overhaul of a North Wales A&E department have been submitted.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) wants to redevelop the emergency department at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, and has submitted a planning application to Gwynedd council.
If approved, the revamped department could handle 70,000 attendances a year, or about 190 a day. Currently, it can only deal with 50,000 attendances a year.
BCUHB says the application is part of a business case to redevelop the emergency department.
The overhaul would include changing the entrance and separating the public entrance and ambulance drop-off point, which the health board says feels “cramped and tired”.
Linda Dykes, a consultant in emergency medicine, said: “It is desperately needed.
“The emergency department was designed in the 70s and built in the 80s for 17,000 patients a year, who were all trauma.
“Now it’s 50,000 or so, and the majority are now medical problems with a rapidly increasing proportion of frail elderly patients.
“The root cause of ambulances queuing and emergency department crowding is lack of flow through the system.
“The current department is cramped and horrendously dated, and has an appalling layout, woefully inadequate capacity and no proper ‘majors’ area. Despite this, it is amongst the top performing emergency departments in Wales.
“Imagine what we could do with a working environment fit for patients and staff.”
A design and access statement submitted by the health board says: “One of the most significant problems faced by the current A&E department is the co-located entrance for ambulances and visitors.
“A key feature of the new development is the separation of these two entrances.
“The waiting area has been relocated to the north façade with the ambulance drop off approaching from the north east and visitors arriving from the northwest.
“The introduction of a new outpatients and administrative block some five years ago gave the hospital a much needed ‘facelift’ and considerably improved the patient experience.
“By comparison, the existing A&E department feels cramped and tired.
“The A&E department is well positioned, and refurbishment and remodelling in this location is the best way to improve the under-provision currently encountered.”
The application also includes an extension to the emergency department consisting of new accomodation on the western corner of the hospital.
A spokesman for the health board said: “The health board is currently preparing a business case to redevelop the emergency department at Ysbyty Gwynedd.
“The planning application which has been submitted to Gwynedd council forms part of that process.”
The application will go before Gwynedd council’s planning committee at a later date.