BREAST services for Gwent patients will be provided from a single hospital - Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr, at Ystrad Mynach - within two years, as part of plans to develop a centre of excellence.

Services currently provided at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals could be transferred to Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr as early as August 2018.

Health board members agreed to the unification and transfer of breast services yesterday, after being told about positive feedback for the idea from a public engagement programme.

A design team will now be appointed to take the project forward. It is hoped that a planning application will be submitted to Caerphilly council next spring.

Breast services provided at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall are well regarded by patients but face a series of challenges, chief among them being difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff.

This leads to longer waiting times and a subsequent failure to meet national standards for people suspected of having - or confirmed with - breast cancer.

Restricted clinic space also presents challenges for staff, and creates privacy and dignity issues for patients, but there is little leeway for a redesign of existing sites.

As well as addressing these problems, a single-site breast service will also minimise the amount of times patients have to attend for tests and other procedures.

Despite measures such as extra clinics and enhanced training in breast imaging for senior staff, the existing service remains “fragile” according to Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, which views the single-site option as a way of developing a centre of excellence for breast services.

Such a centre would also provide the opportunity to more quickly assess and screen out those who do not need further treatment.

The health board will now develop a business justification case which will include a fully costed proposal for a single-site unit.

This will then be submitted to the Welsh Government, who will be asked to approve the proposal.

The aim is to reach this stage next autumn and for work to begin on site before the end of 2017.