AN MS is calling for the health board to “maintain and restore” ambulatory care services at Llandudno General Hospital after they were suspended during the pandemic.

Janet Finch-Saunders has submitted a request for a meeting of the Llandudno Hospital Action Group (LHAG) to discuss the need for the services since staff were relocated to Llandudno’s Rainbow Hospital at Venue Cymru, which was decommissioned in May.

Janet Finch-Saunders, MS for Aberconwy.

Janet Finch-Saunders, MS for Aberconwy.

Mrs Finch-Saunders will also formally raise her concerns about the hospital in her submission to the Senedd’s Health and Social Care Committee consultation on hospital discharge and patient flows.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board last month said there was “low” demand for the unit before the pandemic and that it is reviewing how it will resume services “as part of a joined-up model across North Wales”.

Mrs Finch-Saunders said the hospital could provide “greater assistance and around the clock care” to tackle North Wales’ backlog in appointments.

Recent figures showed more than 320,000 appointments and 11,000 operations were cancelled between April last year and this September as the health board focused its resources on treating and vaccinating people for Covid-19.

“I have long believed that Llandudno Hospital is being underutilised,” she said. “Many constituents would automatically, and rather sadly, feel they had little choice but to drive to Glan Clwyd or Gwynedd because the emergency department has been downgraded in Llandudno.

“With entrenched concerns about prolonged waiting times for patients to receive diagnosis and appropriate treatment, the ambulatory care unit must reopen at the earliest possible opportunity.

With a central location along the North Wales coast, maintaining and restoring the services can help to relieve the strain on other sites in the region.”