WAG Confirms £38.5M Earmarked for Phase 2 of Hospital

The Welsh Assembly Government has confirmed in a letter to the Noah's Ark Appeal that the £38.5M needed for the building of the second phase of the Children's Hospital for Wales has been provisionally identified. However, the go-ahead for the project will not be given until the money needed to fund the running costs has also been identified by the Assembly.

In a letter to Lyn Jones, Chairman of Trustees of the Noah's Ark Appeal, Health Minister Dr Brian Gibbons said, "We have identified the capital requirements of the scheme within our revised capital programme, but the critical issue will be the revenue affordability of the enhanced services."

Chairman of the Noah's Ark Appeal, G Stanley THomas said, "The Noah's Ark Appeal has worked with WAG for many years and believes this to be a major step forward in realising the dream of a complete world-class Children's Hospital for Wales.

"The final phase will contain paediatric operating theatres, a large children's out patient department, high dependency unit, an institute for child health and teaching facilities amongst other services.

"By operating on children in their own theatres, space can be greatly freed up in adult theatres.

"We are confident that final phase will be given the green light in the next few months."