A PUBLIC meeting to discuss the closure of 10 beds in Denbigh community hospital will be held.

The meeting, which will be at Eirianfa Centre, Denbigh, next Thursday (April 26) at 7pm, will be addressed by Anglesey AM Rhun ap Iorweth, Plaid Cymru’s Health spokesman in the Welsh Assembly.

The meeting will also look at the future of heath provision in Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen.

Llanrhaeadr community councillor Elfed Williams said: “Rhun ap Iorwerth is extremely knowledgeable and will bring some new ideas to the table regarding health provision in this area which is especially relevant following the developments at Denbigh hospital.

"More than a month ago local Plaid Cymru councillors met representatives of the health board and were promised a report on the hospital.

“The delay in publishing that report into the future of the hospital is causing concern for a large number of local people and staff. I now learn that there is a problem with asbestos on the site causing further delay, even though the board would have been aware of its presence in the building for some years.

“These delays are causing more uncertainty, which is damaging for staff morale and I am concerned that it might jeopardise their ability to maintain adequate services in the hospital.”

Earlier this year 10 beds were removed from a ward in the community hospital because of fire safety concerns in the wake of the Grenfell disaster. A safety assessment had highlighted vulnerability in the wooden floor of a first floor ward partially sited above the hospital’s kitchen.