HEALTH officials are likely to give the go-ahead for a new pharmacy at Wrexham Maelor Hospital tomorrow.
The 36-year-old pharmacy at North Wales' biggest hospital - a 10-minute walk from the main site - is officially rated as "not in an acceptable condition for its use" by an experts' report.
It catalogues a long list of failings which include a major fire risk for the wooden building, insufficient storage for drugs, a leaking roof, vermin nesting in wall cavities and a lack of security, toilet and disabled facilities.
A project group has settled on three options. Either a new pharmacy will be built on a new site, but linked into the hospital, a new pharmacy will be developed with another hospital, or nothing will be done.
The preferred option is a new pharmacy which will cost about £9m to build.
A new pharmacy would allow more pharmacists to work on the wards, advising doctors on the most appropriate drugs to prescribe, helping eliminate errors.
Members of the NE Wales NHS Trust Board will consider the business case for a new pharmacy at its meeting tomorrow, but already some of the hospital's leading consultants have written supporting the base for a new department.
