Hospital 'could open by 2014' (From Tivyside Advertiser)

Hospital 'could open by 2014'

10:30am Wednesday 31st March 2010

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PLANS for Cardigan’s new £28million hospital development include 25 in-patient beds, a wide range of outpatients and clinic services, as well as a new centre for the town’s GPs and the out of hours service.

The outline scheme was backed by Hywel Dda Health Board on Thursday and now goes to the Welsh Assembly Government for approval.

If all goes to plan the new hospital could open at the start of 2014.

Negotiations are continuing for the purchase of land for the hospital at Cardigan’s Bath-house site.

Ceredigion AM Elin Jones has warned that “budgets are likely to be cut” in the Assembly and says the project should be moved forward “as quickly as possible”.

“It’s very encouraging news that the Hywel Dda Local Health Board has now fully approved the plans for a new hospital in Cardigan,” she said.

“The proposals for a new hospital are finally approaching the home-straight and it’s now imperative that the project group pulls out all the stops in order to further progress the plans by obtaining approval from the Assembly Government and by ensuring that the purchase of the land by the NHS is finalised.

“Capital funding budgets are likely to be cut in the Assembly and every effort must now be made to ensure that the Cardigan case is approved as quickly as possible, and I will continue to press this case with the health minister,” she added.

At Thursday’s Board meeting, Tony Chambers, director of planning, performance and delivery, said: “We have already had feedback from the Welsh Assembly, and are quite confident that things will progress. It’s a key point that the board approved the business case.”

Service planning manager Amanda Jones said: “We have been working on this for two years now, it has been on the cards for 25 years. We have a funding gap of £93,000, but it’s an important factor that we are confident that the gap can be closed.”

She added: “There is still a long way to go, but that is how the business case operates in Wales.”

The plans include 25 in-patient beds, more than half of them single rooms with en suite facilities. They will be used for rehabilitation, palliative care, respite and contiuing care assessment.

There will also be pre-assessment and out-patient clinics and rehabilitation and recovery services and also a community resource centre. This will bring together primary (such as GP) care, community and social services. Other teams will also be based at the centre, including the GP Out-of-Hours service and it will also provide a base for the provision of telemedicine and assistive technology to support people living at home.

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