SURGEON Ken Shute's assertion that "a huge amount of money" is required to solve Gwent's waiting times and beds problem is not an isolated one.

Since the Assembly announced in November that Professor Brian Edwards had been appointed to help Gwent NHS bosses tackle the rising numbers of patients waiting more than 18 months for orthopaedic surgery, money has been cited as the key to this and related problems on several occasions.

Orthopaedic surgeon Witek Mintowt-Czyz, Gwent Healthcare Trust chairman Denis Jessopp and the trust's head of performance Alan Davies have all said so. The acid test will come if Professor Edwards agrees with them.

Mr Morgan has vowed to take action to put things right, based on the professor's report. He is also no doubt keenly aware that 2003 is the year of an Assembly election.

The Labour Party would dearly love to win enough support to govern alone. It has also repeatedly stated that the NHS is one - if not the most important - of the public service issues it wants to see put right most of all. Mr Morgan said during his visit to Newport that Gwent - specifically the Royal Gwent Hospital's - orthopaedic waiting times problem arose "quite suddenly" in July.

What actually happened was a series of unforeseen problems developed during August, and continued into the autumn, which contributed to a chronic underlying problem regarding a lack of beds.

At the end of August, orthopaedic surgery was suspended at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr, and Gwent took on some of its emergency and urgent cases.

This initially added 50 cases to Gwent's list of patients who had waited more than 18 months for orthopaedic surgery, but after the Merthyr situation was solved, urgent cases had to be re-arranged first, so the total was nearer 75.

This problem coincided with a rise in emergency medical admissions which continued through September and into October, with surgical beds given over to medical patients, causing cancellation of operations.

There was also an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting caused by a bug which mainly affected the Royal Gwent, causing further cancellations and closure of several wards to new patients.

Meanwhile, rising numbers of delayed transfers of care, or bedblockers, meant even beds in acute hospitals - 25-30 at one time in the Royal Gwent - were occupied by patients deemed fit for discharge but who remained in hospital because they had no care arrangements elsewhere.

It is estimated that the capacity to deal with 150-200 patients was lost due to the varying problems.

By the end of July no-one in Gwent had been waiting more than 18 months for orthopaedic surgery and a key Assembly-set waiting times target had been met. But three months later, 173 Gwent patients had been waiting longer than 18 months for such operations, out of 205 across Wales, triggering Professor Edwards' review.

All of these problems, however, underlined an ongoing problem in Gwent about the number of beds available in acute hospitals.

Gwent has fewer hospital beds per 1,000 population than any other area of Wales and has less leeway when demand rises or other problems occur.

Gwent health bosses are already pointing to the findings of a recent capacity review in Wales hospital - in a report entitled A Question of Balance - as evidence that the area is a priority for action.

"That report says that we use our beds more productively than anywhere else in Wales," chairman Denis Jessopp told the trust's December board meeting.

"It will be very difficult for an Assembly that has accepted this report to argue against what we are saying about our situation."

A positive report for Gwent's needs from Professor Edwards, and Mr Morgan may have little option but to get out the cheque book.