Wrexham Maelor Emergency Department Faces Calls for Improvement 2026

Key Points

• Wrexham constituency MP, Sam Rowlands, is calling on the Welsh Government to collaborate with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in solving the problems in the Emergency Department of Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
• Rowlands brought up the issue in the Senedd on 11 November 2026 after visiting the department accompanied by the Welsh Labour leader, Ken Skates.
• He says that the staff in the department are committed and honest; however, the condition under which they work is awful, and it is nearly impossible for them to work effectively in the conditions.
• Rowlands urged the Health and Care Cabinet Minister, Mabon ap Gwynfor to collaborate with the health board in order to make it easier for the locals to receive treatment.
• Ap Gwynfor said he has visited the department in his own capacity many times and understood the difficulties faced by the clinicians.
• He added that a new framework for the whole of Wales will be published the following week aimed at easing the patients’ journey from ambulance handover through discharge.
• This, according to him, will improve the patient experience, minimize the amount of time that the patients spend in the Emergency Departments and prevent deterioration of their condition while staying in beds in the hospitals.
• In the same debate, Lis McLean, a Pontypridd, Cynon Merthyr MS raised some issues regarding the conditions in the A&E departments throughout Wales, particularly concerning the food and drinks, the toilet facilities and the chairs available.
• Ap Gwynfor observed that the concerns expressed by BEDS campaign group regarding the hospitals in north Wales suggested a much wider issue in the nation.
• According to him, the health boards should ensure that patients receive appropriate treatment in comfortable conditions, have access to hot beverages and food whenever necessary and clean toilets among other facilities.
• Rowlands observed that he is hopeful that the government will collaborate with the health board as a matter of urgency.

Wrexham (Wales Times) November 13, 2026 — uk/local/wrexham/">Wrexham Maelor Hospital’s emergency department has become the focus of a renewed call for action after Fflint Wrecsam MS Sam Rowlands urged the Welsh Government and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to improve conditions and patient flow at the hospital.

As reported by Wrexham.com, Mr Rowlands, the Welsh Conservative Member of the Senedd for Fflint Wrecsam, told the Senedd on Wednesday that a recent visit to the department had left him “shaken” by what doctors and nurses were enduring.

He made the comments during a Senedd Plenary session on 11 November, in response to a question he had tabled asking what assessment the Cabinet Minister had made of the performance of the accident and emergency service at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Mr Rowlands said he visited the emergency department recently alongside Ken Skates, the Welsh Labour leader. He said the visit gave him a direct view of the pressures facing frontline staff and patients.

“The first thing that struck me was the dedication and the honesty of the staff on the ground,” Mr Rowlands said, as reported by Wrexham.com.

He said doctors and nurses were attending “shift in, shift out” to support patients in “very, very difficult circumstances”.

Mr Rowlands also thanked a matron named Claire, who he said took him and Mr Skates around the department and showed them the issues staff were facing.

“But the second thing that struck me, Cabinet Minister, was the awful conditions those very same people are having to work in, day in and day out,”

he said.

“And they showed us that it’s near impossible to do their job in the facilities that they are having to work in at the moment,”

he added.

What Did Sam Rowlands Ask the Welsh Government to Do?

Mr Rowlands asked the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care to work with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to create a solution to improve Wrexham Maelor’s emergency department.

He said the aim should be to enable his constituents to access the care they need in a timely fashion.

According to the official Senedd record, Mr Rowlands said: “So, Cabinet Minister, will you work with the health board to create a solution to improve our emergency department in Wrexham, so my constituents can access the care that they need in the timely fashion that they need it as well?”

In the Senedd record, Mr Rowlands also stated that performance at Wrexham Maelor’s emergency department “isn’t acceptable” and that “too many patients face prolonged waits”.

He said he expected the health board, supported by NHS Wales Performance and Improvement, to reduce long waits and ambulance handover delays, improve discharge and demonstrate sustained improvements in safe, timely care.

What Did the Health Minister Say About Wrexham Maelor?

Cabinet Minister for Health and Care Mabon ap Gwynfor responded by acknowledging that he had visited the emergency department himself and had seen the difficult circumstances in which staff work.

“I’ve been there a number of times myself in a personal capacity and seen and experienced the fantastic work done by many of the clinicians there in very difficult circumstances,” Mr ap Gwynfor said, as reported by Wrexham.com.

He confirmed that a new pan-Wales framework would be published the following week.

“I will be publishing a new framework next week, which is looking exactly at the issues that you raised on how to improve the flow of patients from ambulance handover through to discharge,” Mr ap Gwynfor said.

He said the framework would seek to ensure patients receive the best experience possible, do not remain in the emergency department longer than required, and do not remain in hospital beds and deteriorate for longer than necessary.

The Senedd record states that Mr ap Gwynfor also invited scrutiny of the framework once published, saying Mr Rowlands “might want to challenge me next week, when I publish it”.

Is the Problem Limited to Wrexham Maelor?

The debate also covered concerns about accident and emergency departments elsewhere in Wales.

As reported by Wrexham.com, Lis McLean MS, Labour Member of the Senedd for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, raised similar concerns about A&E departments across Wales.

She told the Cabinet Minister that conditions at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board had prompted complaints about access to food and drink, toilet maintenance and a lack of comfortable seating.

Mr ap Gwynfor indicated that the issues were not confined to individual health boards.

He said he had met the BEDS campaign group shortly before the debate. According to Wrexham.com, he said the group focuses mainly on north Wales and had raised the same concerns.

“I’m sure that it’s no coincidence that the people I was speaking to around an hour ago were saying that there were problems, as far as they were concerned, in north Wales hospitals when it comes to people’s comfort in A&E departments, the cleanliness of toilets, or access to food and drink, or the provision of food and drink,”

Mr ap Gwynfor said.

He added:

“So, it appears here that we have a more structural national problem that needs to be looked at.”

What Standards Does the Minister Expect?

Mr ap Gwynfor confirmed his expectation that health boards responsible for A&E provision should ensure basic standards for patients.

“My expectation is that health boards who are responsible for this provision should ensure that people, as they go into A&E departments, do get the care that is expected from them, that they find somewhere that is comfortable for their needs, that they have access to hot drinks and food when required, and as a minimum that the toilets should be clean,” he said, as reported by Wrexham.com.

He said he would contact health boards to remind them of these expectations before publishing the new patient flow framework.

The Welsh Government’s wider urgent and emergency care work includes an Urgent and Emergency Care Improvement Plan, which has been approved and endorsed by the Welsh Government and NHS Wales.

Welsh Government targets for emergency departments state that 95% of new patients should spend less than four hours from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge, and that no patient should wait more than 12 hours from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge.

What Did Sam Rowlands Say After the Debate?

Speaking after the debate, Mr Rowlands repeated his call for urgent joint action between the Welsh Government and the health board.

“I do hope that the Welsh Government will work with the health board as a matter of urgency,”

he said, as reported by Wrexham.com.

“Having spent time in the A&E department and talking to people who work there it is obvious that improvements are needed for the benefit of the hard-working staff and patients from my constituency,” he added.

Background of the Development

Wrexham Maelor Hospital is served by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which provides NHS services across north Wales. The emergency department debate followed a formal Senedd question tabled by Mr Rowlands on 4 November 2026, asking for the Cabinet Minister’s assessment of A&E performance at the hospital.

The issue was discussed during the Welsh Parliament’s Plenary session on 11 November 2026.

The concerns raised in the Senedd form part of a wider discussion about emergency care pressures in Wales. In August, the Senedd research service noted that Welsh Government emergency department targets include a four-hour standard for 95% of new patients and a 12-hour maximum wait for admission, transfer or discharge.

The Welsh Government has also previously acknowledged pressure on emergency services. In August, Mr ap Gwynfor said there had been more than 104,000 attendances at all Welsh emergency departments across June and July, averaging 3,357 attendances a day, which he described as the highest on record.

Earlier in October, Mr ap Gwynfor asked NHS Wales and social care partners to plan earlier and focus on practical measures to help people receive the right care sooner. He identified vaccination, faster discharge to improve hospital flow, and stronger urgent care in the community as immediate priorities.

Prediction: How This Could Affect Patients and Staff

For patients in Fflint Wrecsam and the wider north Wales area, the immediate effect of the Senedd debate is increased political attention on waiting times, ambulance handovers, discharge arrangements and conditions within Wrexham Maelor’s emergency department.

If the forthcoming pan-Wales framework leads to practical changes in patient flow, patients may experience fewer unnecessary delays between ambulance handover, emergency department assessment, hospital admission and discharge. The framework’s stated focus is to reduce the time patients spend in emergency departments and prevent deterioration while waiting in hospital beds.

For hospital staff, the debate may increase pressure on Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and the Welsh Government to address the facilities and working conditions described by Mr Rowlands. However, the published reporting does not specify what physical improvements, funding decisions or operational changes will follow.

For Mr Rowlands’s constituents, the key measure will be whether the framework and health board actions result in sustained improvements in safe and timely care, as set out in the Senedd record.

For the Welsh Government, the development creates a forthcoming test of whether the new framework can translate national policy into measurable improvements at individual emergency departments, including Wrexham Maelor.