Cardigan’s proposed £28million hospital development will include 25 in-patient beds, a wide range of outpatients and clinic services, as well as a new centre for the town’s GPs and the out of hours service.

The outline scheme was backed by Hywel Dda Health Board during Thursday’s meeting, and will now go to the Welsh Assembly for approval.

If all goes to plan the new hospital could open at the start of 2014.

Negotiations are continuing for the purchase of land for the hospital at Cardigan’s Bath-house site.

At Thursday’s board meeting, Tony Chambers, director of planning, performance and delivery, said: “We have already had feedback from the Assembly, and are quite confident that things will progress. It’s a key point that the board approved the business case.”

Service planning manager Amanda Jones said: “We have been working on this for two years now, and it has been on the cards for 25 years. We have a funding gap of £93,000, but it’s an important factor that we are confident that the gap can be closed.”

AM Elin Jones has warned that “budgets are likely to be cut” in the Assembly and says the project should be moved forward “as quickly as possible”.

She said: “The proposals for a new hospital are finally approaching the home-straight and it’s now imperative that the project group pulls out all the stops in order to further progress the plans by obtaining approval from the Assembly and by ensuring that the purchase of the land by the NHS is finalised.”