Debate contribution: Craigavon Area Hospital: Redevelopment

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 1 April 2025.

MLA: Mr Colin McGrath
Party at the time: Social Democratic and Labour Party
Date: 1 April 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Craigavon Area Hospital: Redevelopment
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4876612

Text

I welcome the debate and thank the Member who proposed the motion on the hospital in her constituency. It is important that we all look to the facilities in our areas to make sure that they can provide the best opportunities and best health outcomes for people and are able to serve the people. In this instance, the area stretches from the Member's constituency to my constituency, albeit the people whom I represent have a much greater distance to travel to get to that facility and pass a number of other facilities on the way. There is little to disagree with in the motion. Yes, we absolutely need sustained, meaningful capital investment in our hospital network. We have to address the chronic inequalities in how that funding is allocated. It is deeply concerning that, almost a decade after Craigavon Area Hospital's master plan was published, we have still not seen much progress made on it. That is not just an issue for Craigavon but a systemic issue. The same story could be told about many other facilities across Northern Ireland. How many times have we seen flashy strategies be launched and glossy brochures be published, only for them to gather dust or not to be fulfilled? How many of the so-called Executive flagship projects have gone over budget and remain undelivered, with our constituents left waiting, wondering and losing faith? A number of Members have referred to that today. Craigavon Area Hospital follows the same tired pattern. We are told of a £400 million redevelopment — a major investment — but, although we saw the paediatric ward be delivered in 2017, and credit where it is due for delivering that vital facility, what about the rest? What about the upgrade to the emergency department? What about intensive care, imaging theatres, recovery, cardiac services and critical care? They are still missing, still incomplete and still just promises that are on a bit of paper but have not happened. I ask the Minister, albeit he has been in post for only the past period, what has happened since 2017? What progress has been made? In this economic climate, costs do not go down, so has the Department secured the additional funding required? Do we even know what the figure looks like? Crucially, is the money still there? I also draw Members' attention to the serious adverse incident report from 2023 and to the Audit Office report that was published just yesterday, which makes for grim reading. It shows that our imaging services, which, from diagnostics to eventual care, are fundamental, are falling dangerously behind. Equipment is outdated, staff are stretched and 16% of the machinery is over 10 years old and thus considered obsolete. That is neither normal nor sustainable. If we do not face up to such problems and instead continue to ignore them, we will create only more problems.
Whilst we need progress at Craigavon, we also need transparency and clarity about the timelines for the funding and for the work that will take place. We also need proper support for the network, including Daisy Hill Hospital, because the system works best when all our sites are pulling together, not when one is prioritised to the detriment of the other. Let us put it another way: if you have two children, you do not invest all your energy and money in one child and hope that the other one will just muddle through. No, you make sure that both of them are supported, that their needs are being met and that they get the care and attention that they deserve. That is what we are asking of the Department: allocate the resources on the basis of need, not on the basis of convenience or quiet centralisation. We need to stop the drip of transformation through collapse. We need to see planned strategies that are actually delivered, and we have to stop pretending that decisions are not being made when the services are being allowed to deteriorate beyond the point of return. I know the response that we will get. We have heard it all before. MLAs raise genuine concerns and shine a light on these issues, and suddenly we are accused of fearmongering, feeding conspiracies or scaremongering in our communities. I recall one director in the health service referring to a "self-fulfilling conspiracy theory". I do not think that that is what we need to see or do. We need to see decisions being taken fairly across an area, but, when it comes to what is being requested for Craigavon Area Hospital, it is very difficult to disagree with anything that has been said.

774 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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