Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts. Become a member today

A hospital blighted by potentially-dangerous lightweight RAAC concrete has just one working lift, it has been revealed.

Health chiefs are currently drawing up plans to redevelop Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital to address these issues – and is running a public engagement campaign to seek residents’ views.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) has been developing proposals for what it calls “enhanced local general hospitals” – which also include Newport’s Royal Gwent and Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr in Ystrad Mynach.

The proposals come as a result of it centralising its most acute services at the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran, which opened in 2020. 

The presence of RAAC on the site has made Nevill Hall – a 213-bed hospital – a priority for the health board.

A number of public buildings across the UK were found to be at risk from RAAC, or Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, when new safety guidance was issued in August 2023. 

All flat roofed buildings at Nevill Hall, which opened in the 1960s, have RAAC present – with only the hospital’s two ‘H’ towers, that house its wards, unaffected. 

In a Monmouthshire Council meeting, health chiefs said they are developing the first stage of a business plan, seeking funding for a new building – likely between the two tower blocks. 

The business plan would be submitted to the Welsh Government.

“The challenge of developing Nevill Hall has always been there, though it is ramped up the priority list by the presence of RAAC,” Hannah Evans the health board’s director of planning, told Monmouthshire councillors.

Fortnightly checks by engineers are currently carried out on all areas of the hospital, where scaffolding is used to prop up roofs containing RAAC.

However, Ms Evans said the intention isn’t to remove the RAAC, but instead redevelop the site completely.

She said there is a “challenging maintenance backlog” at Nevill Hall, which was estimated at £35 million in 2023, which also includes its lifts. 

Ms Evans said the health board is prioritising fixing the lifts: “We are not waiting to resolve the RAAC to sort the lifts out. We are sorting those lifts as a priority and have got a plan in place to do that.” 

Ms Evans said some services would also be relocated to manage use of the lifts, which were described as “old” and requiring more frequent maintenance. 

The strategic outline case for the redevelopment of Nevill Hall is expected to be put before the health board’s September meeting for approval and submission to the Welsh Government. Work on new buildings wouldn’t be expected to begin until 2027 or 2028. 

The public engagement period runs until Friday, August 15 and members of the public can attend the remaining presentations at Stow Park Community Centre, Brynhyfryd Rd, Newport on Wednesday, July 30 from 3.30pm to 5.30pm; the Education Centre at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr on Wednesday, August 6 from 4pm to 6pm and at the Bridges Centre, Monmouth on Tuesday, August 12 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. 

An online Microsoft Teams meeting will also be held from 5.30pm to 7pm on Thursday, August 7 and a link for anyone wishing to attend is available by emailing ABB.PlanningDepartment@wales.nhs.uk.