A £500,000 parking scheme for the Royal Gwent Hospital is among £1.3 million worth of projects to be funded next year from a special budget for developments, replacements and renewals run by Gwent health bosses.

But capital spending cutbacks in Wales in general, particularly in the NHS, means cash for health boards to spend on the likes of small building projects, and equipment replacement and upgrades, will be in much shorter supply in future.

All health boards in Wales run Discretionary Capital Programmes (DCPs), from budgets consisting of several millions of pounds awarded annually through the Welsh Assembly Government.

It enables the likes of car parking improvements at hospitals, computer technology updates, heating and environmental improvements, to be planned and carried out without the need for detailed business cases to be prepared for scrutiny by the Assembly.

This year, Aneurin Bevan Health Board started with a DCP budget of £7.8m and was awarded a further £2.1m, £600,000 of which was ring-fenced for diagnostic equipment.

For 2011/12 however, the health board's DCP budget starts at £4.6m. Part of the reduction is due to an agreed over-commitment on this year's programme, but with £1.3m of it already earmarked, just £3.3m remains unallocated.

Typically, dozens of bids against the available amount are made by various health board divisions, and prioritising them inevitably means valuable schemes are left unfunded and unrealised. One difficulty is that some are necessary to meet health and safety requirements, yet might not otherwise be deemed as priorities.

In a report on the health board's DCP for 2011/12, deputy chief executive Judith Paget warns of a "very challenging" round of prioritisation ahead.

Details of the Royal Gwent car parking scheme have not been published, but given that parking, or the lack of it, at the hospital is a long running issue, any improvements will be welcome. Other DCP projects for next year include £300,00 for learning disabilities.