Llandudno could be downgraded, according to the plan

The BBC Politics Show reports that the plans, to go to local health boards this week, propose closing Abergele and HM Stanley at St Asaph, while Llandudno hospital could be downgraded.

The review argues that services should be concentrated at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Glan Clwyd and Wrexham Maelor hospitals.

If health chiefs agree, the plans would be put out for public consultation.

NHS managers say it is about ensuring the best care is available but opposition assembly members are concerned it is more about cost cutting.

There has been uncertainty about the future of the three hospitals after first details of the review, which started last July, emerged last month.

By November, health officials had identified five possible options for the future of hospital services in the region.

It is proposed to concentrate more services at three general hospitals

In a statement last month, an NHS spokesperson described the findings as an "exciting new vision", with services being boosted at the three main general hospitals as centres of excellence.

"If the recommendations are approved by the boards and pass successfully through open consultation with the public in north Wales, only then will the plans go forward," the statement added.

The review began following the publication of the Welsh Assembly Government's health strategy Designed for Life.

'Passion'

Abergele Hospital has 75 beds and includes orthopaedic services and chest medicine.

The 32-bed HM Stanley unit is named after the locally-born Victorian explorer Henry Stanley, who spent his childhood there when it was a workhouse.

It then became an infectious disease hospital for the early part of the 20th Century. Services include stroke and rehabilitation care for the elderly.

Llandudno Hospital has had �4.5m investment over the last few years, including two wards and a rehabilitation department.

Jon Osborne, chair of the British Medical Association's joint consultants committee told BBC Wales' Politics Show that not enough money had been promised to pay for the capital costs of reorganisation.

Mr Osborne, an ear, nose and throat consultant at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, also warned against the effect which any cuts in community beds could have on the whole restructuring plan.

However, he said that was not against plans to centralise some services.

Grace Lewis-Parry, chief executive of Gwynedd Local Health Board, was one of the panel who drew up the proposals.

She said: "Our intention is to make sure patients can receive the appropriate care at the right time and in the right place - this may not be in hospital, as it was in the past.