NEW standards aimed at improving patients' surroundings in hospital could scupper a flagship hospital project in Blaenau Gwent.

The cost of providing a new community hospital will double or even treble if 10 new 'consumerism criteria' are included.

Worried Gwent health chiefs are meeting Welsh NHS top brass today to discuss potential consequences for a scheme that would revolutionise healthcare in Blaenau Gwent. An unofficial estimate of £12m is the only figure so far put on the project, earmarked for Ebbw Vale. Gwent Healthcare Trust is preparing an outline business case.

But based on guidelines from Welsh Health Estates, and depending on which one of four new-build options is chosen, the final cost could soar to between £27m and £39m. Ten consumerism criteria have been introduced, addressing:

Privacy and dignity; Quality of environment; Patient accommodation; Entrances, and reception and waiting areas; Security and safety; Barrier-free access; Patient control of environment; Catering; Patient advocacy; Information and communication.

Gwent health bosses are not commenting until they have met Assembly health officials. But there are worries that such a price tag will delay the project or even prevent it going ahead.

Several options are being considered for a new hospital, the key to a major revamp of secondary care services in Blaenau Gwent.

They range from a 58-bed to a 163-bed hospital, depending on the fate of existing facilities.

A report by trust planning director Glyn Griffiths says the costs "are considerably in excess of those which the trust had anticipated".

The introduction of what he calls "rather controversial new standards known as 'consumerism' " has upped the price.

"The criteria aim to increase standards and space in patient areas, and include the requirement for new hospitals to provide 50 per cent single rooms compared with the current average of 20 per cent," says Mr Griffiths' report.

"To provide an example of what this means to the Blaenau Gwent project, the proposal for a new build with 100 beds (Option Four) increases in price by £7m when consumerism is applied."

A "substantial contingency" has also been built into the estimates to cover potential costs linked with building in an area littered with old mineworkings.