The palliative care unit at Bryn Seiont is to close

Concerns have been raised about a health trust's plans to close the palliative care unit at a hospital in Caernarfon before a replacement there is complete.

The North West Wales Health Trust has confirmed it is considering transferring the service from Bryn Seiont Hospital to the town's Eryri Hospital before the work to build a new unit there has finished

The move has been criticised by local Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams and the family of a patient at Bryn Seiont, saying it will affect patients' privacy.

But the area's community health council says the service will be better as a result of the transfer.

The unit at Bryn Seiont cares for patients who have a terminal illness and they have a private room each.

The health trust has said it hopes to open a new unit in Eryri Hospital by next summer.

The plan is put the patient on an open ward and I don't think this is acceptable Hywel Williams MP

But Gruff Thomas, whose father is a patient at Bryn Seiont, says that staff there think that the hospital will close sooner than that, and as soon as the end of this month possible.

"My father has been in Bryn Seiont since May and they were saying then that he is to ill and weak to be moved," said Mr Thomas.

"But then again he will be moved over night in a way without nobody worrying about his health.

"There will be no privacy for the patient and their families in an open general ward like the ones in Eryri.

In a statement, the trust said they were seriously considering moving Mr Thomas from Bryn Seiont to Eryri before the work there is completed.

Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said he was "surprised" by the planned move and he would be raising the matter with the trust as soon as possible.

More up-to-date facilities will be available for patients at Eryri Hospital

"My understanding was that this move would happen slowly and that it would be finished by May next year when the resources would be available in Eryri hospital.

"It is clear that the patients and their families are worried especially when we think that the resources are not going to be there for some time.

"The plan is put the patients on an open ward and I don't think this is acceptable"

But the chief officer for North Gwynedd Community Health Council, Glanville Owen, has defended the planned move to Eryri Hospital, saying the equipment there is more modern.

"The present staff will be transferred with the patients and they will then keep the expertise and experience," said Mr Owen.

"There are facilities on the Eryri site to prepare food and there will no longer be the need to carry the food over to another site.

"Maybe there will be less privacy until next May but we think the clinical service that will be provided is much better and safer."