PATIENTS in the Gwent town that provided the blueprint for the NHS are in line to receive a multi-million pound healthcare Christmas present in 2021.

Plans are being developed for a health and wellbeing centre in Tredegar that will transform primary and community care services for people living in the town and surrounding areas.

Health bosses have revealed that the aim is for it to be completed by December 2021 - and residents will have the opportunity next month to take a look at the proposals currently being developed, with a public exhibition of the work to date set to be held at the town's Bedwellty House on Thursday May 16.

Tredegar Health and Wellbeing Centre, as previously reported, is a priority primary care scheme for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, which is seeking to transform provision of such services in communities across Gwent.

A health and wellbeing centre opened in Brynmawr last June, and that proposed for Tredegar will also provide a wide range of services under one roof.

Such schemes - which often include one or more GP practices, dental services, and a range of clinics - have been dubbed 'super surgeries', but in reality their role is much broader.

As well as GPs and other healthcare professionals, and dental services, the Tredegar centre is earmarked to include a community pharmacist, midwifery, health visiting and school nursing services, a Flying Start base, wellbeing support services, and social support such as Citizens Advice and debt advice.

The centre, which is set to cost several millions of pounds, will be built in the grounds of the existing Tredegar Hospital, which was a key part of healthcare provision in the town through its former Medical Aid Society, the blueprint for Aneurin Bevan's vision of a National Health Service.

The design of the centre is set to retain features of historical interest on the hospital site - the facility closed in 2010 when Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan opened in Ebbw Vale, after more than 100 years's service to the people of Tredegar both pre-NHS and as a valued part of the NHS in the area.

A letter from health board chief executive Judith Paget to Blaenau Gwent AM Alun Davies states that, subject to planning approval and funding from the Welsh Government, building work is set to begin in summer 2020, "with an anticipated completion date of December 2021".

Ahead of next month's exhibition, more details of the health and wellbeing centre proposals will be shared with Tredegar residents.