HEALTH minister Vaughan Gething rejected as "misplaced" a claim that Gwent's brand-new Grange University Hospital is unfit for purpose.

He told the Senedd current pressures there are down to staff shortages and an "unprecedented tide" of coronavirus admissions.

The influx of Covid-19 patients has forced the postponement of some medical services in Gwent, and has coincided with more staff members off work and self-isolating.

Staff absence at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) is currently at 11 per cent.

Mr Gething said the issue facing the NHS in Wales is whether "we [can] keep enough of our staff fit and well and able to attend, so service choices are not driven by a rising tide of staff absence".

The Grange University Hospital, near Cwmbran, opened last month, serving as the dedicated critical care facility for the Gwent area.

Monmouth MS Nick Ramsay told the Senedd he had heard "concerns about the number of Covid-19 cases there and the fact it has had to respond very quickly to a changing situation".

He said the hospital is facing "an extraordinary situation" and urged the health minister to monitor how well it could cope with rising numbers of coronavirus patients.

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Mr Gething said the critical care capacity at the Grange is greater than previously available in Gwent, but the "key limiting factor" for services is the number of staff available.

"We come back to this difficult conundrum - if you have need at the greatest level and you have reducing staff cohorts, you can't produce more staff immediately, and then you have to decide where to deploy those staff to address the greatest level of need," he told Senedd Members.

"Those are the difficult choices that not just ABUHB are facing, but health boards right across Wales, and indeed in another parts of the UK."

Citing reports of lengthy ambulance queues and claims of "patients waiting in car parks", South Wales East MS Laura Anne Jones asked the minister what action he was taking to make the Grange "fit for purpose".

She said she had heard concerns "the infrastructure at the Grange hospital is not ready [and] is not coping".

But Mr Gething said this was "misplaced criticism and "a misunderstanding of the mission of this hospital".

"The Grange was never set up to receive essentially what the health service would call 'walk-ins' - people who deliver themselves to an emergency department," he said.

"It is set up to receive our sickest patients. It is not set up to receive people who want to drive themselves there."

• Gwent's health board is currently treating its highest number of Covid-19 patients since the pandemic began, placing "extreme pressure" on services.

The latest health board advice is to only call 999 or attend the Grange "if you absolutely need to".

If you have an illness that is difficult to manage at home, call 111 or visit the website 111.wales.nhs.uk for help.

People with minor injuries should not attend the Grange for emergency treatment. Instead, visit one of ABUHB's minor injury units (visit abuhb.nhs.wales/urgent-out-of-hours/minor-injury-units for locations).