MAJOR new GP and primary care centres are proposed for two Blaenau Gwent towns as part of an ongoing revolution in the area's healthcare.

Under plans being considered by the new Aneurin Bevan Health Board primary care resource centres, or super-surgeries, are planned for Brynmawr and Tredegar in the next two or three years, multi-million pound developments designed to bring more health services out of hospitals and closer to the communities they serve.

Each project will involve existing GP practices moving into a single purpose-built centre, which will also provide a base for services that are currently provided at hospitals such as Blaina and Tredegar.

They will also provide vital support for the new Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan, in Ebbw Vale, which will open next autumn.

The Brynmawr centre would involve three GP practices currently responsible for more than 12,000 patients.

It would also be a shared base for community services currently provided by the new Health Board at existing surgeries and at Blaina Hospital, including a wound clinic, a stroke clinic, and weight management, podiatry and sexual health services.

Other proposals include optometry and dental facilities, a pharmacy, and a team base for district nurses and health visitors.

At Tredegar, the set-up would be similar, with two existing GP practices sharing the centre, serving around 13,000 patients.

Plans for this development however, include the transfer of speech and language therapy, podiatry and dental services - and possibly an ante-natal clinic - from Tredegar Hospital, and transfers of dental, chiropody, eye, diabetes and other clinics and services from the existing Tredegar health centre.

Sites for the new centres are not finalised, though options close to both town centres have been identified. The projects represent two of four primary care resource centres proposed for Blaenau Gwent.

The aim, subject to Assembly approval, is to appoint a third party developer to fund the buildings, likely to cost several millions of pounds, which would then be leased back.

The Health Board estimates the Tredegar project would cost around £227,000 a year in rent and business rates, the Brynmawr project almost £350,000.