North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has challenged the First Minister over this week's announced Welsh Government funding for a new Hospital on the Royal Alexandra Hospital site in Rhyl and asked why after years of delay, "should a distrustful electorate see this as anything more than a watered-down pre-election sweetener that fails to meet local need?"
Speaking in yesterday's Plenary meeting in the Senedd, Mr Isherwood referred to the repeated broken promises by the Labour-led Welsh Government since 2016 regarding the development, and the resurrection of the plans in the run-up to the Senedd elections in May this year.
He said:
"I pay tribute to the tenacity of my colleague Gareth Davies MS on this. In 2013, the then Health Minister, Mark Drakeford, approved plans for a new hospital on the existing Royal Alexandra site, scheduled to be completed by 2016, including 30 in-patient beds, an additional 18 beds for older people with mental health problems and a minor injuries unit.
"Broken pre-election promises that the hospital would be delivered were then given in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021, as development costs ballooned from £22 million to around £80 million, promises made by your Government despite you now saying you didn't have the money to pay for them.
"Planning consent was granted for an amended development in December last year, with construction subject to Welsh Government funding approval, and, referring to a sudden resurrection of the plans in the run-up to an election, Gareth Davies pressed you on whether construction would begin early this year and whether this would be to the 2013 original specifications.
"Lo and behold, you visited the site yesterday to announce a new, scaled-down plan for a 14-bed reablement unit and a minor injuries unit with a £33 million investment, aiming to be completed in 2027, and significantly smaller than the original 2013 30-bed commitment.
"So, after years and years of delay, why should a distrustful electorate see this as anything more than a watered-down pre-election sweetener that fails to meet local need?"
