Health Minister Edwina Hart has approved plans to develop a £3.77 million Assembly Government-funded day case surgery unit at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil.

The new unit will enable patients from Merthyr Tydfil, Cynon and the upper Rhymney Valley to be treated locally during the extensive programme to refurbish and upgrade wards at Prince Charles Hospital. The Assembly Government has provided £53 million for the improvements.

The 12-bed unit will allow Cwm Taf NHS Trust to continue to carry out day case operations at the hospital during the ward refurbishment and will provide additional capacity in the future to expand day surgery services in Merthyr Tydfil.

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This new facility will help to ensure that the Trust is able to meet Assembly Government waiting times targets during the refurbishment of the current wards and planned improvements to the operating theatres.

The current 30-bed wards will be replaced with spacious 24-bed wards to improve privacy and reduce risk of spread of infection.

Work on the new day case unit is expected to get underway shortly and completed by the end of the year.

Mrs Hart said: "Prince Charles Hospital has a central role in providing high-quality healthcare to the people of Merthyr Tydfil and surrounding valleys.

"The Assembly Government is investing heavily in new facilities at the hospital to improve care for people locally.

"The development of a day case unit is in line with our efforts to treat patients in this way.

"This means the majority of patients can return home on the same day. By having more operations done as a day case, more patients can be treated, helping to meet our waiting times targets, where by the end of the year, no patient should wait more than 26 weeks from primary care referral to treatment, including any waits for diagnostic tests and therapies."

(JM/BMcC)