£16m Royal Gwent revamp underway

The project is the first phase of a proposed £16.2m improvement programme intended to rejuvenate the hospital’s vital but ageing infrastructure.

But cuts to all-Wales capital spending programmes could mean that, unless funding is found from other sources, some proposed improvements might take longer to carry out, if they go ahead at all.

Aneurin Bevan Health Board last year approved a priority list of improvements at the Royal Gwent, with the current upgrade of low voltage electricity supplies the first project to be approved and funded through the Welsh Government.

Three other projects are being finalised, involving water mains upgrade – a burst main two years ago caused supply problems to the main hospital and several days of disruption in the car park – lifts replacement, and operating theatre ventilation.

The water main scheme could potentially cause more disruption, though hospital bosses are planning to minimise this. More than £2m is set to be spent this year on this project.

But Wales-wideNHScapital budget cuts could yet see the Royal Gwent improvement programme cost halved, to £8m.

Health board bosses may use funding from its discretionary capital programme, an annual budget of several millions of pounds to fund repairs, upgrades and equipment replacement, to bridge some of the gap, though demand on this is already high.

A two-year timescale, much shorter than originally foreseen, is also likely to be imposed. The health board is reviewing some higher priority schemes to determine whether or not they can now be completed.

Work on the proposed Specialist and Critical Care Centre for Gwent, which will replace much of the work currently undertaken at the Royal Gwent, will not begin until late 2013 at the earliest, and the centre is unlikely to be ready until late 2016/17.

In the meantime, the Royal Gwent’s infrastructure must be updated to ensure it can continue to provide quality services to patients.