Debate contribution: Craigavon Area Hospital: Redevelopment

Debate contribution by Mrs Diane Dodds on 1 April 2025.

MLA

Mrs Diane Dodds

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

1 April 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Craigavon Area Hospital: Redevelopment

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4876563

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The motion highlights the importance of progressing the major rebuild at Craigavon Area Hospital. I remind the House that Craigavon Area Hospital serves the whole of the south of Northern Ireland. It has approximately 240,000 people in its catchment area, and it covers five constituencies represented in the House and three large council areas. It is a regionally significant acute hospital with an extensive range of departments and services, including acute and intensive care, chronic disease management and ambulatory care.

However, it has served its community for five years, and its layout is now problematic and outdated. I reinforce the point that it is a key hospital in all the Department's strategic documents on reconfiguration and modernisation. It is bracketed with Altnagelvin Area Hospital and major sites in Belfast as being an acute centre for Northern Ireland. I understand that the Southern Health and Social Care Trust has indicated that it has plans for the redevelopment of Craigavon Area Hospital. The situation is made slightly worse by the fact that the Southern Trust had been moving services to Craigavon Area Hospital, meaning that there is more pressure on the site. Craigavon needs to be able to offer as much as possible. It is hindered by a lack of available space, and, with the reconfiguration of hospitals, Minister, we do not want it to miss out on services or on perhaps becoming a specialist regional centre on account of the unsatisfactory site layout. Having said that, I am not blind to the needs of the Daisy Hill Hospital, St Luke's Hospital and many other sites across the Southern Trust area.

No, I want to make progress. It is clear that Craigavon Area Hospital is not appropriate for high-quality modern healthcare. While the master plan was proposed almost a decade ago, we have moved forward very little on it. The Southern Trust submitted a plan for £151 million of work on an initial phase to increase bed capacity, provide additional dementia beds in the Bluestone unit, install new MRI and CT scanners and repurpose a day surgery unit. However, it is clear that we now require a new hospital that matches modern expectations. That will be a challenge, because it will have to be constructed alongside the hospital's work, as it will remain on the site. Recent reports have underscored the argument for redevelopment. Members will recall that an independent investigation was required after suspicious clusters of COVID cases were identified in Craigavon Area Hospital and Daisy Hill Hospital and that an independent panel conducted a level 3 serious adverse incident (SAI) review. Deficiencies in the hospital estate were identified as contributing to the likelihood of transmission. The report concluded:

"Insufficient and inadequate isolation facilities, poor ventilation on the wards, overcrowding and inadequate space for social distancing ... are likely to have contributed to the outbreak."

The panel identified the fact that the:

"physical condition, functional suitability, compliance with standards and lack of effective space utilisation ... all contributed to the likelihood of transmission of infection on the wards."

The report said that there were:

"few single rooms, with only some having en-suite facilities."

It also said:

"There are insufficient isolation rooms with negative pressure ventilation. Toilets and shower facilities are limited. With the exception of the Haematology Ward ... multi-bed bays in other wards have poor spacing between beds and do not reflect current standards. This was the case particularly in the main medical ward (MMW) and 4S Wards."

It was the panel's view that inadequate isolation facilities and poor ventilation made it difficult to prevent transmission. We hope that we will never experience another COVID-like episode, but we must make appropriate preparations and changes. All our hospitals need to be fit for purpose to meet the challenges of everyday illnesses and the unexpected. We are also all aware of the issues in recent months regarding capital projects that have drawn significant public attention, in the main in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. Overruns and additional costs obviously impact on the commencement and delivery of new facilities elsewhere. In the past decade, capital expenditure in the Southern Trust has represented roughly 11% of that across the six trusts, the bulk of which was for preventative maintenance.

There have been major injections into state-of-the-art hospitals, wards and facilities in other trusts over that period, not least in Antrim, Altnagelvin and the Royal. I have argued very strongly for that development. Northern Ireland needs a new children's hospital and a regional neonatal unit. Those are important additions to the health infrastructure. However, we must remember that other acute hospitals, serving major centres of population, also need investment. The Department of Health's proposed capital allocation, as set out in the draft budget for 2025-26, is £391 million. The Minister has argued that that is less than is required to fund essential expenditure for Executive flagship projects, contractual commitments to progress projects in design and development and the continuation of existing services. On Thursday, officials appeared before the Health Committee and spoke to an update from the Minister. The draft budget allocation includes £71 million ring-fenced for flagship projects, city deals and Inclusive Future funding. Some £114 million is being allocated to contractually committed projects and £162 million to maintain the existing estate, including infrastructure, equipment and fleet replacement. Some £47·5 million will go towards progressing projects that are in design and development. The Minister's correspondence confirmed that £500,000 was being earmarked for Craigavon Area Hospital redevelopment programme team, healthcare planning and site master plan. However, that is the last item of more than 50 capital projects listed across four tables. I hope, Minister, that that is not an indication of the priority or focus that will be placed on the redevelopment of Craigavon. The Minister's paper to the Committee last week stated:

"the demand for new capital investment far outstrips what we can reasonably assume in a budget settlement for both capital and revenue and exceeds the capacity within estates teams; in these circumstances, the Department is undertaking a review to determine which projects will be progressed over the next 3 years."

I trust that the Minister is able to confirm to the Assembly today that Craigavon Area Hospital redevelopment, described in the correspondence to the Committee as "in design and development", will not form part of that review exercise, nor be at risk of not being progressed. I look forward to hearing that confirmation as we progress with the debate. While tens and, indeed, hundreds of millions of pounds appear to be frittered away on project after project, the bulk of the main hospital at Craigavon stands just as it did in the early 1970s. I urge the Minister to recognise the great need and the potential at Craigavon Area Hospital. It serves almost 250,000 people in that part of Northern Ireland who deserve the facilities that will bring their healthcare experience into a new and modern era.

1,166 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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