The palliative care unit at Bryn Seiont is to close

Town councillors in Caernarfon have opposed plans to close a cancer care unit at a hospital before an extension at another unit has opened.

The original plan by local health officials was to close the palliative unit at Bryn Seiont Hospital in May 2005 after the �1.7m extension at Eryri Hospital is opened.

Members of the North West Wales NHS trust, Gwynedd local health board and Community Health Council presented the plans at a meeting on Tuesday.

The trust said a decision would be made on a "clinical basis".

One doctor told us three months ago that my father was to ill to be moved...How can he be moved now? Patient's son Gruff Thomas

Last week, it emerged that the unit at Bryn Seiont could close as soon as the end of this month, before the new building was ready.

Trust officials said that the main reason for the decision was a severe shortage of staff at Eryri Hospital, with worries over patient safety.

No bed

Gruff Thomas' father is a patient at the Macmillan unit at Bryn Seiont and has been offered a transfer to Bryn Beryl Hospital near Pwllheli.

But Mr Thomas has refused to move his father.

"We have refused in the past as the bed there was not a Macmillan bed and my father wasn't going to have the care he should received," said Mr Thomas, whose father lives near Pwllheli.

"If it was a Macmillan bed then we may reconsider but after saying that one doctor told us three months ago that my father was too ill to be moved.

"How can he be moved now?"

Town councillors rejected the plan to close the unit before the new unit was ready at Eryri Hospital.

"I was not convinced," said Councillor Helen Gwynn.

"On the contrary I saw some officials failing to agree on the matter.

"I don't see the explanation of needing to think about patient safety as holding water."

Closing the unit at Bryn Seiont now would spare �127,000 even though officials stressed that this was not the reason for the closure.

At the end of the meeting on Tuesday, John Jones from the trust, that they would consider the view of the council but a final decision would be made on a clinical basis.

"I understand the worries they have and I feel the Bryn Seiont is very close to the hearts of the people in Caernarfon," said Mr Jones.

"But at the end of the day my responsibilities are to make sure that the care is been offered to the safest level possible."

Gwynedd Local Health Board consulted the public on changes to services at Ysbyty Eryri and Bryn Seiont at the end of last year. Ysbyty Bryn Seiont opened as a TB hospital in 1916, but is regarded as "unsuitable for modern inpatient healthcare".

It will be re-developed for day patients - including a pain clinic,chronic fatigue and child development services, as well as the blood transfusion service and offices.

In-patient beds, mostly for the elderly, as well as the four-bed palliative care unit, will be concentrated at Eryri.