Debate contribution: Craigavon Area Hospital: Redevelopment

Debate contribution by Miss Nuala McAllister on 1 April 2025.

MLA: Miss Nuala McAllister
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 1 April 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Craigavon Area Hospital: Redevelopment
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4876627

Text

Thanks to my colleague from the Health Committee for proposing the motion. I echo a lot of what has been said by Members across the Chamber. There is not much that I can say that would be additional to or different from what everyone else has said. I agree with the Members who have spoken, but I have some questions that we could put to the Health Minister and that he could perhaps shine a bit of light on. The Member who proposed the motion spoke about the £500,000 that was committed to the redevelopment programme, but I do not really know what that means or what or whom that money is for. I understand that it is for healthcare planning and the site master plan. Beyond that, we are not sure. When budgets are so strict — we understand the position that the Minister is in — we need to delve a bit deeper into what the figures actually mean and where the money is going. One of the other key things to highlight from our perspective, not only as area-based MLAs but as Health Committee members, is that someone needs to get a grasp of how costs are really out of control. Yes, we recognise and respect the fact that construction costs have been spiralling, but, when we have delay after delay and also have to fix the many problems that are arising, we will simply continue to waste money time and again. We need to get control of the reason why so many things are going wrong.
In any construction project, whether in the private sector or the public sector, there are always bumps in the road and costs that are incurred.
Sorry. Yes.
Absolutely. If they benefit the patient and lead to better health outcomes, of course, but we are not seeing that. We are seeing things going wrong too often. We understand that the issue of pseudomonas at the maternity hospital is complex, but at what point do we ask, "When are we going to learn and make sure that it does not happen again?". The acute mental health inpatient centre is another issue that beggars belief. It occurred just five years, which is not long, after it opened. We had promises that finance would be created for four beds for learning disability patients. Those were patients who, specifically, were coming from Muckamore Abbey Hospital and who have been failed again. Again, all that adds to the costs. Some costs have been running up for decades, as we have seen with the children's hospital. Those issues are important. We are not disputing the fact that flagship projects should happen or that money should be spent, but we should get the costs under control before they spiral. I want to have a bit more clarity on what is part of the plan for Craigavon. Perhaps the Minister will stand up and say that that is part of the business case. If so, that would be much welcomed. If, however, we have to spend money to fix all the problems that have occurred over the past decade, how many years after the business case is produced by the trust will the project happen? As I said, I am happy to support the motion. Many points have been raised by MLAs who are local to Craigavon.
I know that those of us who are Belfast MLAs are sometimes in the privileged position of being able to access quite quickly so many hospitals in our area. We have to sense-check the situation in rural constituencies, because they also need hospitals that are fit for purpose and fit for the services that are run in them.
That brings me to the reconfiguration plan. My party welcomed the publication of that plan, but we do not have the detail of the services that are in it or what it actually means. What do we know about the master plan for Craigavon and how it fits in with and suits the needs of any reconfiguration of our health transformation? An holistic approach has to be taken for all of the health estate. I thank the Members again for tabling the motion. I look forward to perhaps following up at the Health Committee at a later date some of the issues that have been raised.

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

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