Flint

Flintshire County Council is in the process of completing a detailed “master plan” for the town of Flint, in recognition of the need to develop the town. The current health care premises in the town are not suitable for delivery of future services needed by the population, and the ability to improve services is being limited by the facilities.

Flint Community Hospital has:

14 inpatient beds (currently 10 in use)
Minor injuries unit open seven days a week from 9am – 7pm (used by about 6 patients a day)
Therapy services including audiology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy
Phlebotomy (blood tests)

Over recent months the Health Board has had to make temporary closures to some services at Flint Hospital because of inability to keep staffing levels safe when resources are spread thinly between different services. We know this is not good for patients or for our staff.

There have been previous reviews of Flint Community Hospital which have proposed closure of the hospital facilities and the development of a new primary care resource centre, which could provide better primary and community services for local people, with inpatient beds being provided in neighbouring areas where there are newly developed facilities.

Proposals already discussed in this document:

Enhanced Care at Home is developed for the population to allow patients, wherever possible, to be cared for in their own homes. This service would be in place by 2013.
X ray services would continue to be provided at Holywell
Minor injuries services would also be provided at Holywell

Additional proposals for Flint:

Further work is undertaken with Flintshire County Council to support the development of the “master plan” which will help local organisations work together better to meet the needs of the local population
A new primary care resource centre is developed which replaces current poor quality premises and allows the delivery of improved primary care and community services
Where care is needed in a community hospital inpatient bed, this is provided at Holywell Community Hospital.

Holywell is a modern hospital which is 5 miles away from Flint.

When we plan a new primary care centre we will consider whether we can use the opportunity to provide good new accommodation for other services in the area such as clinics. We will look at this if proposals are accepted.

In order to develop the new extended primary care centre we would submit a business case to Welsh Government for approval and funding. We anticipate the capital investment for the building would be in the region of £4M. The work could be complete by 2016.

Last updated: 17/08/2012