HEALTH minister Vaughan Gething has told a Gwent AM he wants to be the last health minister to have to make a decision on proposals for a Specialist and Critical Care Centre (SCCC) for the area.

The final business case for the £300 million hospital - which will treat the sickest patients in Gwent and south Powys - has been with the Welsh Government since last autumn, and was recently subject to a review.

Mr Gething told Torfaen AM Lynne Neagle during an Assembly health, social care and sport committee session yesterday that he cannot make a decision until he has received advice from those who have been scrutinising the project.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board is keen to get on with a project that will not now open its doors until 2020. When it submitted the final business case last October, it had hoped for approval early this year, with a view to opening the hospital in summer 2019.

Ms Neagle has long lobbied Welsh Governments to help bring the project to fruition, and is currently working with fellow Gwent AMs Jayne Bryant, John Griffiths and Hefin David on the project.

As well as serving 600,000 people across Gwent and south Powys, the SCCC would be a fundamental part of the South Wales Programme, a project that seeks to strengthen healthcare provision throughout the region.

Mr Gething told Ms Neagle the final business case has been reviewed independently, and he has asked health board chief executive Judith Paget "to do some further review work to take us to a point where a decision can be made".

This is important, he said, "because I recognise there is a point here about certainty, and I need to be able to confirm that we can proceed with something that will fit in with the whole South Wales Programme, and if we want to re-design health care delivery.

"So I am also keen to make clear - I think this has gone through three previous health ministers - and it is absolutely my ambition to be the last health minister to have to make a decision on this so there is real certainty provided, and I recognise the sooner, the better.

"I can’t do anything until I’ve got that advice, but that advice is expected within this half of this term and as soon as that is available I will of course, update and inform members.”

The timescale referred to is understood to mean the autumn.

Ms Neagle said she has been "working hard with my Gwent Labour colleagues to ensure that the SCCC remains at the forefront of Welsh Government decision-making".

"The development is hugely important, not just for communities in Gwent, but the whole of South Wales, so it’s urgent that a decision is made," she said.

"I will continue to work hard with Gwent Labour AMs, the Welsh Government, and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, to ensure the plans are brought to fruition at the earliest opportunity.”