THE health minister of Wales says it was "damn right" to open Gwent's flagship hospital ahead of schedule even though it is currently under "severe pressure".
The Grange University Hospital declared a so-called black alert earlier this week, which Eluned Morgan said signalled "the highest level of escalation available".
Current pressures on the hospital follow months of concerns over waiting times at the Cwmbran hospital, which opened in late 2020 and is now the site of Gwent's only major A&E department.
The Argus has published a series of articles about people who have waited for hours at the hospital, sometimes outside in a long line of ambulances.
In the Senedd this week, health minister Ms Morgan was told the hospital's black alert "indicates the NHS in Wales is ill-prepared to support those who need it the most".
Conservative shadow health minister Russell George asked whether it had been "correct" to open the Grange early, and added there had been "sustained reports of understaffing since the hospital first opened".
"Can I ask you, minister, did you see this coming, and what support can you now offer?" he said. "What is your plan to support the hospital and particularly support the workforce that are under so much pressure at the hospital?"
Ms Morgan said the pressures at the Grange were exacerbated by the pandemic and were also being seen in the NHS nationally, with the number of Covid patients (1,468) in Welsh hospitals at "the highest number in a year".
She also blamed patient flow for the Grange's problems.
"The fact is that in Aneurin Bevan we have around 270 patients who are ready to leave, but it's been impossible for many of them to leave because 70 of our care homes in Aneurin Bevan were closed because of Covid," Ms Morgan said. "Can you prepare for those kinds of things? We have been trying to prepare, but we are in an extremely difficult situation at the moment."
Plaid Cymru MS Peredur Owen Griffiths said problems at Gwent's new hospital had "clearly come to a head in the last few days", but concerns around waiting times and accessibility had existed for much longer.
"What lessons have been learnt from the opening of the Grange, and what plans are in place to put the hospital on a healthier footing?" he asked. "This situation must be rectified as soon as possible, for the sake of patients and the staff."
Ms Morgan admitted there were lessons to be learned. She said the Grange was opened early "because, frankly, we were in the middle of a pandemic and we needed all the help we could get".
"So, it was absolutely the right thing to do, but obviously it meant we didn't have time to do the preparations that we would have done had we not been in that situation," she said, adding that the Royal College of Physicians had originally been "quite critical" of the hospital's services but had this week published a more favourable follow-up review.
"Was it right to open the hospital early? Damn right it was, because imagine if we hadn't," Ms Morgan said. "We needed those beds. This is not a situation that is unique to Wales, but it's absolutely clear this is a pressure that's facing people across the United Kingdom as well."
The health minister also appealed to relatives of patients at the Grange.
"If you are able to help with the discharge of your family from hospital if they are ready to be discharged, then please help us out and come and help us to discharge them from hospital and give them that support, so we can get more urgent cases into the hospital at this extreme time," she said.
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