A DECISION on the long-awaited £300 million Cwmbran Specialist and Critical Care Centre (SCCC) will be reached at the end of this month, according to the health secretary.

Vaughan Gething AM responded to a question by Torfaen AM Lynne Neagle, whose constituency will house the hospital, which was first discussed in 2003.

The final business case for the hospital - which will serve a population of more than 600,000 across Gwent and south Powys - was submitted by Aneurin Bevan University Health Board a year ago.

However, the Welsh Government is yet to make a decision on the matter, prompting Ms Neagle to raise the issue during a house questions session in the Senedd.

Ms Neagle said: “The fact remains that the business case for the hospital has been in with Welsh Government now for a year.

“You are now the fourth minister charged with making a decision on what is a crucial development, not just for my constituents in Torfaen, but for the whole of Gwent.”

Ms Neagle, who earlier this year welcomed a Welsh Government commitment of £36m in the 2016/17 capital budget allocation earmarked for the SCCC, said the development is a key part of the South Wales Programme for safeguarding and improving key health services.

“When I asked you about this in health committee recently, you indicated that you expected to receive advice and to update members by half term recess. Yet, yesterday the First Minister said that a decision was expected by the end of this year,” added Ms Neagle.

“My constituents now have been promised a new hospital now for more than a decade - when can we expect a final decision on this?”

Responding, Mr Gething said: “I am keen to provide certainty and I have stuck to the timetable that I indicated in committee, within this half of this term, and I expect to receive advice to allow me to make a decision.

“I recognise this isn’t just a Gwent issue, but it is part of the South Wales Programme.

“I recognise the impact locally, regionally and nationally. I am determined to stick to that timescale and to give you and other members the confidence that it’s not been hit into the long grass.

“This is something very much at the forefront of my mind. I expect to keep to the timescale that I indicated to you in committee. By the end of this month I shall have advice and I shall make a decision.”

Earlier this week, Monmouth MP David Davies raised concerns about the centre, fearing it had been “kicked into the long grass”, and wrote a letter to Mr Gething seeking clarification on the SCCC’s timescale.

"Since being given the green light under a blaze of publicity just before the 2011 Welsh Assembly elections, nothing much has happened and we are none the wiser as to whether the new hospital will ever be built," he said.

Nick Ramsey, the AM for Monmouthshire, has also added his voice to the issue, and asked the minister for assembly business, Jane Hutt AM, for a statement from Mr Gething on the SCCC issue, ahead of yesterday's exchange.

"It must be getting on for around 10 years now since I first attended Gwent Clinical Futures meetings regarding the construction of a Specialist and Critical Care Centre at Llanfrechfa Grange in Cwmbran," said Mr Ramsay.

"Here we are 10 years down the line and, aside from some preparatory work, we still don’t have that building with us in any real sense.

“There’s been renewed confusion over this over the last few days, with some concerns that there is further delay to this project.”