 The hospital will keep up to 12 beds for three years under the plan |
Supporters of a north Wales community hospital have won a compromise deal which would see some beds retained while services are overhauled. Campaigners in Blaenau Ffestiniog opposed Gwynedd Local Health Board's proposals to close all 17 beds at the town's memorial hospital.
Around 1,000 people attended a rally in the town in September.
On Thursday, the board discussed new proposals which will see 8-12 beds kept for up to three years.
The board claims the hospital, built in 1925, is unsuitable and inefficient for some of the services it wants to provide.
Over the summer, it put forward modernisation plans which recommended closing all 17 in-patient beds, but keeping the minor injuries unit and X-ray and out-patient services.
 |  It is better than no beds at all, but the reality is that we're going down from 17 to 12 and in saving terms, well, I don't think there are any |
Some or all of the beds at the hospital in Tywyn were also to close under the health board's proposals.
The plans sparked a campaign locally which saw around 1,000 people march through Blaenau Ffestiniog to voice their opposition.
'Revised proposals'
The board said the two communities had been "influential in shaping" the new proposals considered on Thursday.
They would see the memorial hospital keep some beds for the next three years as new services are introduced.
A compromise on Tywyn hospital was also to be presented at the meeting, which would see 14 beds remaining, with a possible expansion to 16 beds to care for terminally ill patients.
In a statement, the board said: "Each community has been influential in shaping these revised proposals.
"The board will be asked to consider proposals which reflect the feedback from the public and will see beds retained in both hospitals and the development of new community health services.
"In addition, local implementation groups will be established in each area to ensure that local people are fully involved in the change process.
Defence committee
"They will act as reference groups taking an active part in the evaluation process, and they will be made up of local people, community groups as well as statutory organisations."
Gwilym Euros Roberts, chairman of Blaenau Ffestiniog Memorial Hospital defence committee, welcomed the proposals but questioned how much the cut from 17 beds would save the health board.
He said: "We as a committee welcome the decision to retain eight to 12 beds, but we hope that it is 12.
"It is better than no beds at all, but the reality is that we're going down from 17 to 12 and in saving terms, well, I don't think there are any.
"The hospital defence committee is not looking at a three-year plan, it's looking at a hospital that will provide services in the long term."
The defence committee said it would continue its campaign to keep the hospital open beyond three years.
The decision will now be discussed later this month by Meirionnydd Community Health Council.
If it does not accept the revised plan, the final decision will be made by the Welsh Assembly Government.
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