The health minister has been accused of washing her hands of a “crisis” as patient complaints at a Gwent hospital continue to mount.

Monmouth MP David Davies has made repeated calls for the Welsh Government to launch an independent public inquiry to examine healthcare failings affecting Monmouthshire after a catalogue of incidents.

These include an 84-year-old woman with a head inquiry who spent 24 hours being treated in ambulances outside The Grange University Hospital due to a lack of beds, and a suspected heart attack victim who was told she had to wait two hours for an ambulance.

Mr Davies said there were extreme pressures on the NHS across Wales, but he said the problem seemed “particularly acute” in Gwent amid concerns the new flagship £350m hospital at Llanfrechfa – which has been open less than two years – "is not fit for purpose".

However, health minister Eluned Morgan has refused to hold a public inquiry – stating it is the responsibility of Aneurin Bevan University Heath Board, the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust and partners to ensure patients receive a “safe and timely access to assessment and treatment”.

In a written response to Mr Davies, she said: “I would remind you that while I have a role, as minister, to set the strategic direction for health and care services in Wales and hold the NHS to account, local health boards remain responsible for planning and delivering these services at a local level to meet the needs of the communities they serve.

“This includes ensuring the clinical model, configuration of services and facilities are fit for purpose and provide equity of access to deliver the very best care to all patients.”

The Grange University Hospital opened four months ahead of schedule in November 2020 to help the health board respond to winter pressures and the Covid-19 pandemic.

First Minister Mark Drakeford conducted an official opening ceremony in August 2021.

“Mark Drakeford was more than happy to come to Llanfrechfa, pose for a photoshoot and collect all the credit for delivering a brand-new hospital," Mr Davies said.

"Now that things are going wrong, his health minister is not interested and washing her hands of what is fast becoming a crisis.

“It is a disgraceful situation to say it is nothing to do with me and blaming the health board instead.

“I am accused of undermining doctors, nurses and paramedics every time I raise this issue, but the blame certainly does not rest with them.

"We are being let down by those in charge who are pretending the current situation is acceptable when it is clearly not.”

The Grange became the region’s only hospital for accident and emergency care – with the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital and Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr operating minor injury units.

Back in March, the Aneurin Bevan Health Board asked people in Gwent to think very carefully before they attend the Emergency Department at The Grange University Hospital.

On March 30, a spokesperson said: "Unfortunately, we don’t have enough staff to safely run more than one ED (emergency department).

"Even before the Grange opened, we often had to move our ED services to one hospital.

"Having specialist staff in one place provides safer care and higher quality care for patients."

Mr Davies said: “When it was first proposed downgrading Nevill Hall Hospital to a minor injury unit, both myself and residents were assured the extra journey time it would take for patents travelling the longer distance to Llanfrechfa would be compensated for by the specialist and critical care ‘centre of excellence’ at The Grange.

“The fact of the matter is this sadly has not always been the case, as we have seen with the volume of complaints received by my office and numerous letters in the local newspapers.

“There are several basic questions a public inquiry needs to answer, such as why so many patients with serious conditions have faced such long waits for ambulances in Monmouthshire, why have there been delays in being seen once patients have arrived at The Grange, would it be worth re-opening minor injury clinics to reduce pressure on The Grange and should Aneurin Bevan University Health Board pay for elective surgery cases to be carried out privately - as neighbouring health boards have done - to reduce numbers in hospital?”

Mr Davies said he would be seeking an urgent meeting with the health board’s new chief executive, Nicola Prygodzicz, once she has taken up post in September.

The health board has been taking steps to deal with challenges at The Grange, recently announcing a new emergency unit will be opened there ahead of the winter. 

Last month the Argus sat down with Ms Prygodzicz, in her role as interim deputy chief executive, to discuss the seeming crisis at the hospital. 

At the time, she said she did not know how the region would have coped during the pandemic without the new hospital, as it had freed up capacity at other sites.

She said everyone was unhappy at long A&E waits and that improving the situation was a top priority but argued the problem was not the new hospital site but difficulties around patient flow and discharging patients, and the wider NHS was facing similar challenges. 

"We’re waiting for people to go from the Grange to a community hospital, or to the Royal Gwent or Nevill Hall, but they are full," she said. "Their beds are full of people waiting to be discharged, and social care hasn’t got the staff there to do the packages of care, or the care homes are in outbreak."

The Welsh government was contacted for comment.