BETSI Cadwaladr has revealed plans to band with community pharmacies in order to provide outpatient prescription dispensing services.

This would be within their main hospitals, including Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

The special measures health board admitted they were in the early stages of exploring opportunities.

A spokesperson from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: “This is not a proposal to privatise our hospital pharmacies.

“Community pharmacies are a key part of the NHS providing services to patients in all of our communities, every day.

“Outpatient dispensing services are currently provided by staff working in our hospital pharmacies.

“By working in partnership with a community pharmacy we could free up staff to carry out other duties, including improving dispensing services on wards, and supporting patients in clinical areas such as emergency departments and mental health services.

“Currently, patients may have to wait a significant length of time for outpatient prescriptions,” the spokesperson added.

“A dedicated outpatient dispensary, run by a partner who specialises in community pharmacy services, would significantly reduce waiting times and provide outpatients with a better overall experience.”

Unison Cymru Wales have branded the plan as "pharmacy privatisation".

They said "Betsi Cadwaladr says it wishes to reduce costs and save on tax and claims it does not have enough staff to dispense medication to the standard it would like."

Paul Summers, Head of health at Unison Cymru Wales, said: "Patient needs will not be the first priority for private companies focused on generating a profit and privatising pharmacies could open the way to wholesale privatisations of other NHS Wales services. This has never been the way healthcare workers, the public or the Welsh government want our health service to be run.

"Unison wants to work with health boards to see how patient services can be improved. The sensible way forward is for pharmacies to be retained in-house and to recruit more dispensing staff.

"If health boards say they need more money to prevent privatisation of pharmacies, we will work together with them and the Welsh health secretary to jointly lobby the UK government."