A £30 million blueprint heralding a new era for hospital services in Blaenau Gwent, has been approved by health chiefs.

The plans, involving a new 100-bed hospital and a major change of role for two existing hospitals, are designed to give the area a health service and facilities fit for the 21st century.

The centrepiece of the project is a purpose-built, 100-bed community hospital to serve the whole county borough, costing an estimated £27.8m.

This will be built in Ebbw Vale, providing a much-needed boost for a town on the receiving end of recent economic blows.

A further £1.3m is needed to revamp Blaina and Tredegar hospitals for life as re-enablement centres, with the aim of keeping people out of acute hospitals whenever possible.

Gwent Healthcare Trust will now submit an outline business case for the project to the National Assembly for Wales. If approved, a full business case will be put together containing a preferred site and exploring funding options.

The main aim of the project, several years in the planning, is to get to grips with problems that have conspired to make people in Blaenau Gwent among the unhealthiest in the United Kingdom.

The new hospital will include inpatient and outpatient facilities, a minor injuries unit, therapy and diagnostic facilities and an adult mental health unit. These will allow for:

The transfer of up to 8,000 outpatient clinics a year, currently held in Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny;

Development of local radiology and other diagnostic services;

Development of local cardiology, pulmonary rehabilitation, and other therapy services. The new hospital will mean thousands of Blaenau Gwent patients will be able to attend clinics closer to home, instead of having to go to Nevill Hall.

The plans also lay the foundations for an intermediate care system, reflecting the changing pattern of use of community hospitals.

Acute hospitals are discharging patients earlier due to bed pressures, and these patients often need more acute care than has previously been available in community hospitals. But the current hospital set-up in Blaenau Gwent, in terms of buildings, equipment and staffing, must change to deal with this.

The new hospital will cover 9,800 square metres. The most likely venues are part of the recently closed Corus steelworks site, or land next to Ysbyty'r Tri Chwm, also in Ebbw Vale, though a final decision will not be made for several months.

PICTURED: The former steelworks at Ebbw Vale where a new hospital could be built.