An MP has called for clarity over the future of a multi-million pound super-hospital for ill patients in Gwent.
Plans for the purpose-built Specialist and Critical Care Centre (SCCC) on the site of the former Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital near Cwmbran were unveiled by health chiefs in 2008.
The final business case was submitted to the Welsh Government last October with the hope that approval would be granted in January, allowing construction work to begin in May.
But scrutiny of the business case for investment into the SCCC is not yet complete, sparking a flurry of concern that the £350m project may fall through.
Monmouth MP David Davies said he was fed up with the delay and questioned the lack of information being made publically available.
“All I have received from Health Secretary Vaughan Gething AM is a bland and frankly useless letter which doesn’t tell me anything,” he said.
“The SCCC was first proposed more than a decade ago. We have had further announcements since then, often coinciding with elections, but no sign of a new hospital or even a final decision as to whether we will ever actually see it.
“Disappointingly, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board doesn’t seem very concerned.
“I have just been sent a 10-page summary of the Director of Public Health’s annual report, a large part of which is taken up with guff about climate change and the musings of a fictional family getting sunburn on a globally-warmed beach in the year 2050.
“There was no mention of the SCCC, GP shortages, the ongoing problem of different standards of care and waiting times for cross-border patients, or any number of relevant health issues affecting people in Gwent right now.”
Mr Davies said it was time for the health board and Welsh Government to “come clean” and offer a clear explanation of what is happening.
“I have written again to see if I can get some straightforward answers which I can pass on to the taxpayers of Gwent,” he added.