A total of £184m has been spent on a new Maternity and Children’s Hospital in Belfast, but major delays mean it will not be completed until 2030 - a decade over the original estimate.
Written answers from the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to the DUP MLA Diane Dodds set out the reasons for the delays at the Royal Victoria Hospital site.
A five-floor Maternity building was completed in March with hopes it would open next year (after an original estimate of 2015), but the discovery of bacteria in the water system has caused further delays.
The New Children’s Hospital is to consist of 10 storeys on the site currently occupied by Bostock House, formerly used for student nursing accommodation.
Mrs Dodds commented: “The tax-paying public will find it hard to believe that £184m has already been spent on the flagship Maternity and Children’s Hospital without anything commencing on site for the Children’s Hospital before next year.”
As well as missing the 2020 estimate for the Children’s Hospital, she said the maternity section was supposed to have been running by 2015, but was delayed because of contamination to the water systems.
Dodds – “Time for Answers on Hospital Delay” https://t.co/7SsH8zOYZt via @duponline @DianeDoddsMLA
— DUP (@duponline) August 16, 2024
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Mrs Dodds questioned what lessons had been learned, given that similar issues of water contamination emerged during the commissioning stages for the Critical Care Building on the RVH site.
“The lack of progress and time lost led to campaigners approaching me concerned that planning permissions may lapse,” she said.
“Those responsible need to be held accountable for these delays and the costs that result.”
“It is unacceptable for public money to be squandered in this way. Many senior officials in the minister’s department and arms-length bodies are employed specifically to ensure such projects are a success. Comprehensive answers are required, with full transparency and accountability.”
A breakdown of the £184m costs of the Maternity and Children’s flagship project detailed that £92m has been spent to deliver the maternity building and £15m on an office and logistics building.
As well as money spent on various stages of demolition, £44m has been spent on professional design works, equipment costs, statutory fees, management and tendering processes.
A full business case approval for the Children’s Hospital was received in July, with the main construction to start on site early next year until 2029, followed by a commissioning phase to allow opening in 2029/30.
Commenting on when the completed maternity building would be safe to open, Mr Nesbitt said: “Unfortunately, testing of the water systems showed the presence of pseudomonas contamination which makes it unsafe to transfer clinical services to the new building until remedied.
“The Belfast Trust is now working to identify potential remediation options: however, this is likely to result in a delay in opening the hospital until it is clinically safe to do so.”
On concerns that planning permissions could lapse, he added: “Belfast Health and Social Care Trust’s New Children’s Hospital planning approval will not lapse as the approved works have commenced. "
