£30m health hub plans set to move forward

Proposals that form the first phase of developing a multi-agency health and wellbeing campus in Newtown costing around £30 million will be presented to Powys councillors.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Health and Care scrutiny committee this Wednesday, councillors will be given an update on the long running saga of the North Powys Wellbeing programme.

The project, which is a collaboration between the council and Powys Teaching Health Board, was first mooted in 2019.

Work on the project has been on the back burner in recent years due to the squeeze on public finances.

But this year, the Welsh Government provided a much-needed stimulus the with £971,250 provided to help to develop the Strategic Outline Case/Outline Business Case for the wellbeing hub.

The development will include a Health and Social Care Academy, which would help “support workforce sustainability and development”.

The report explains that work continues to finalise accommodation projects for students, key workers, and supported living, as well as progressing the design of a new school building for Ysgol Calon y Dderwen primary school.

But the mini hospital – known as a Rural Regional Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, which would replace the Montgomery County Infirmary hospital in Newtown – has been put into the second phase of the development with no timeline or costings included in the report for this.

The report said: “We are bringing this briefing to committee on the work to date, and to outline next steps.

“Formal approval to support the next stage of the programme would be required from Cabinet in December, prior to submission to Welsh Government.”

The report explains that scrutiny committee will have their say on the detailed proposal at a meeting before any decisions are taken ahead of the by the council and health board.

The final proposal will go before the North Powys Wellbeing programme board for approval in November

Following this stage, the proposal will then go to meetings of both the PTHB board and council Cabinet on December 16 for formal approval.

If it gets the go ahead, the plans will then be lodged with the Welsh Government on December 17.

If the Welsh Goverment agree – the report speculates that building work could start in 2026/2027 and it would be finished by 2028/2029.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service