Campaigners who want a new cancer centre for south east Wales to be co-located with a major existing hospital have raised fresh concerns about the funding.
The Welsh Government has agreed to fund a new Velindre Hospital in the Whitchurch suburb of Cardiff to replace the current centre, which has the same name.
But health and environmental groups argue that it would be preferable to build a new facility adjacent to Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales, pointing to research which suggests it is better to have cancer centres on a site that is integrated with a general hospital.
Read more: Velindre issue update after work on new cancer centre causes major disruption
Local residents also oppose the destruction of the Northern Meadows, a green open space on which it is intended to build the new Velindre centre. A number of campaigners have been served with injunctions to stop them from protesting.
Members of a campaign group called Colocate Velindre are now arguing that comments made by Health Minister Eluned Morgan in relation to another hospital project suggest the cost of the new Velindre will be even higher than previously thought.
Vale of Clwyd Conservative MS Gareth Davies had questioned the minister about a stalled plan for a community hospital in north Denbighshire. In her reply, Ms Morgan suggested that hostile economic factors meant that the £44m proposal for north Denbighshire dating from 2017 was now unsustainable.
The proposal for the new Velindre will involve paying a private sector consortium to build the new cancer centre and maintain it for 25 years.
A spokesman for Colocate Velindre said: “The deal with the Acorn consortium currently carries a price tag of £562m plus VAT. Of that, £200m is the up-front building cost borne by Acorn, leaving a debt of £362m to be discharged from public funds over 25 years.
“But the Health Minister’s own prophecy predicts development debts rising sharply. That prediction on paper means that the new Velindre’s £362m debt should eat up between £14m and £20m a year (or likely more) on average.
“Then there’s the bill for enabling works. Using the Health Minister’s own assumptions this could now reach £40m or even more. The final total for the taxpayer would then be over eight times more than north Denbighshire’s modest business case for £44m.”
The Colocate Velindre spokesman added: “We still urge the Welsh Government and new Velindre to pursue strongly a long-term future on an acute hospital site. Let’s not waste Wales’ precious financial resources for decades on an expensive, long-term, outdated cancer day-unit, in the process destroying an existing ‘green prescription’ natural health facility.
“This looming project will enrich the Acorn consortium but impoverish resources for cancer patients. We imagine the people of north Denbighshire might have something to say about that kind of thing.’
A Velindre University NHS Trust spokesperson responded: “The development of the new Velindre Cancer Centre is vitally needed for us to keep pace with increasing demand for non-surgical cancer services as the number of people referred to us with cancer grows every year. Over the coming decades, it will support the region in improving the quality of care, patient experience and outcomes.
“The new cancer centre will serve the community of south east Wales as it has done for over 65 years. It does not have the facilities or space necessary to meet the future needs of patients.
“As stated previously, co-location was considered in 2020 by the independent health think tank the Nuffield Trust when, having considered evidence from a range of stakeholders, it advised that it would not be an option for some considerable time.
“It also emphasised that solutions to the immediate issues facing cancer services across south east Wales were ‘required now rather than an indeterminate point in the future’.
“The Nuffield Trust concluded that with the implementation of its recommendations, the proposed model for tertiary cancer services in south east Wales would “offer a safe and high-quality service that provides a good patient experience”.
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