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Three urgent care centres opened in 2022. Now north Wales is consulting on closing them

Qurexa Editorial Team1 November 20266 min read 0 0
Three urgent care centres opened in 2022. Now north Wales is consulting on closing them

What happened

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has confirmed it is consulting on ending urgent primary care centre services at three north Wales hospitals. The three sites are Ysbyty Penrhos Stanley in Holyhead, Ysbyty Alltwen in Tremadog, and Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor. The story was reported at the end of October 2026. The centres are fairly new. They opened in 2022 and are staffed by advanced nurse practitioners, GPs and physiotherapists. The idea is that they handle urgent problems that need dealing with the same day, but that are not emergencies. The health board says access to urgent care remains a priority. It also says the centres have faced financial pressures and ongoing difficulty recruiting staff. The proposal has met organised opposition. Several elected representatives, including Llinos Medi, Helen Jenner and Janet Finch-Saunders, have written to the board. Janet Finch-Saunders argued that the centres ease pressure on A&E departments when people cannot get a GP appointment but still need same-day care. A local councillor, Jeff Evans, warned that closure would bring 'dire consequences for the community and patients', and said he expected people to turn instead to GP surgeries and emergency departments that are already stretched. Campaigners also note that Ysbyty Penrhos Stanley lost its four-bed hospice unit, run by St David's Hospice, in 2025, and could now lose another service.

Why this matters

This is a local consultation, but the question behind it is a national one. Urgent primary care centres exist to fill a specific gap. You have something that needs looking at today. It is not life-threatening, so A&E is the wrong place. But you cannot get a GP appointment until next week. The centre is meant to catch exactly that. If you remove it, that need does not disappear. It has to land somewhere. The objectors' argument is that it lands in two places that are already under strain: general practice and A&E. Geography makes this sharper in north Wales than it would be in a city. Holyhead, Tremadog and Bangor are not close together, and for people on Anglesey or in rural Gwynedd the next option may be a long drive. For someone without a car, it may be most of a day. There is also a pattern worth naming honestly. Services are often introduced, found to be useful, and then reviewed when money is tight, with staffing difficulties given as a reason. Whether that is the right call depends on evidence that the public rarely gets to see. Which is precisely why a consultation is the moment to ask for it.

What the evidence actually says

It is worth separating what has been confirmed from what is being argued. Confirmed: the health board is consulting on ending urgent primary care centre services at the three named hospitals. The centres opened in 2022. The board cites financial pressures and recruitment difficulties. Several named politicians and a local councillor have objected. Contested: whether closing the centres would increase pressure on A&E and GP surgeries. This is the objectors' case, and it is a reasonable one, but reporting at this stage does not include modelling from the health board showing where patients would actually go. Not yet clear from the reporting: the consultation's closing date, and when a final decision is expected. That is a genuine gap, and it matters, because a consultation you find out about after it closes is no use to you. The health board's own website is the place to check this. One more honest note. Recruitment difficulty is not an excuse a health board invents. Staffing shortages in rural Wales are real and well documented. A service that cannot be staffed safely is a genuine problem, not just a budget line. The question is whether closure is the only answer to it, or the quickest one.

Qurexa perspective

We are a Lincolnshire company, so we are not going to pretend to speak for north Wales. What we will say is that the pattern described here is familiar in any rural area, including ours. When the same-day option is far away, two things happen. People leave problems longer than they should. And people who do need help end up in the highest-cost, slowest part of the system. The part we can genuinely help with is narrower than this story: keeping people supplied with the medicines they already have, so a missed repeat does not turn into an urgent problem. That is not a substitute for a local urgent care centre and we would not suggest it is. If you live in the affected areas, the useful thing is not our opinion. It is your response to the consultation.

Practical advice

If you live in Anglesey, Gwynedd or the surrounding area, here is what is worth doing. Find the consultation and respond to it. Go to the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board website and look for the consultation on urgent primary care centres. Consultations have deadlines, and this one's closing date was not in the initial reporting, so check it directly rather than assuming you have time. Be specific in your response. 'Do not close it' is weaker than 'I used this centre on this date for this problem, and the alternative would have been a 40-minute drive to A&E.' Boards are required to consider responses, and concrete accounts of actual use carry more weight than general objection. Contact your own representatives. Your MP, your Senedd member and your county councillor all have standing here. Several have already written in. In the meantime, know your current options. NHS 111 Wales can advise on where to go for an urgent problem and is available by phone and online. Your community pharmacist can deal with a range of common conditions without an appointment. Keep 999 for emergencies. If you have a long-term condition, this is a good moment to make sure your repeat prescriptions are ordered in good time, so that a medication gap never becomes the reason you need urgent care at all.

What to know

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is consulting on ending urgent primary care centre services at Ysbyty Penrhos Stanley in Holyhead, Ysbyty Alltwen in Tremadog and Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor. The centres opened in 2022 and are staffed by advanced nurse practitioners, GPs and physiotherapists. The board says urgent care is a priority but points to financial pressures and recruitment problems. Objectors, including Llinos Medi, Helen Jenner, Janet Finch-Saunders and councillor Jeff Evans, argue the centres relieve pressure on A&E and GP surgeries and that closure would have serious consequences. No decision has been made. The consultation closing date was not given in early reporting, so check the health board's website and respond while it is open. Sources: BBC News (via Yahoo News), 'Closing urgent care centres would have dire consequences, say campaigners', 31 October 2026, https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/closing-urgent-care-centres-dire-164642192.html; Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, news and consultations, 2026, https://bcuhb.nhs.wales/news/; NewsWire Explorer, 'Closing urgent care centres would have dire consequences, objectors say', 31 October 2026, https://www.newswireexplorer.com/closing-urgent-care-centres-would-have-dire-consequences-objectors-say/ This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.

#urgent care#Betsi Cadwaladr#north Wales#NHS consultation#A&E pressure#GP access

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