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A Plaid Cymru Senedd Member has raised concerns over access to the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran.

Speaking in the Senedd on Wednesday April 26, South Wales East MS Peredur Owen Griffiths said the hospital was “difficult to access for many of the communities it’s meant to serve”.

Mr Owen Griffiths also highlighted Welsh Government pandemic funding for bus companies coming to an end this year.

Posing a question to health minister Eluned Morgan, Mr Owen Griffiths said: “With the government withdrawing pandemic funding for bus companies later this year, and the predictions of a catastrophic fallout for many bus services, the Grange hospital could become even more difficult for anyone not travelling by private motor vehicle.

“What consideration have you given to improving access to hospitals for those without motor vehicles?

“Do you share the concerns of Plaid Cymru about the fallout from the withdrawal of funding for bus companies from the perspective of accessing health services?”  

Health minister Mrs Morgan, who had earlier said she was “concerned” about access to the hospital, responded by saying the Welsh Government was “committed to trying to make sure that access is available for all”.

She continued: “We have been concerned about access to the Grange hospital in particular, and I’d like to thank in particular my colleague [Caerphilly MS Hefin David], who’s been working very hard on a particular project.”

Mrs Morgan said the climate change minister (Julie James MS) and deputy climate minister (Lee Waters MS) have recently agreed to fund an initial trial bus service between Blackwood, Newbridge, Pontypool and the Grange.

She said the aim is to have the new bus service “operational by the middle of June”.

Mrs Morgan added: “£114,000 was committed to help community transport by the health board, and they are now co-ordinating a scheme to make sure that we can get as many community providers to help deliver the transport services needed under that scheme.”