Tim Attwood: There has been a shameful delay to the building of a new maternity hospital at the Royal Victoria in Belfast

Last week, the NI Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), echoed the deep concerns of the NI Audit Office, in relation to the scandalous overspend on major infrastructure projects.
Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

This appalling failure is exemplified by the delay to deliver a new maternity hospital for mothers and babies on the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH)site. Nearly 25 years ago, maternity staff, mothers and women’s groups, began the long and tortuous journey to achieve a new regional maternity hospital in Belfast.

It had been recognised for decades that the current building in Royal Victoria Hospital was old and ill equipped to deliver a quality maternity service.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In 1996, the cost of building this new maternity hospital was estimated to be £15 million.

In January 2000, the first Minister of Health Bairbre De Brun said: “My firm intention is to have the new hospital in place in five to six years’ time.”

After strong campaigning, it was finally announced in 2010, that a new maternity hospital would be delivered at an estimated cost £49 million, with the top three floors of the ill-fated Critical Care Centre being used to provide maternity beds at a cost of £8.2 million.

Figures from NI Audit Office have revealed that the cost of the new maternity hospital is now estimated at £73.9 million, over 50 per cent (£25 million) higher than 2010 estimates and already five years behind schedule.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Furthermore, the state-of-the art £150m building in the grounds of Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital remains mainly closed to the public eight years after it was completed.

This is shameful. What is wrong with the Department of Health and NI Executive that they cannot build a new maternity hospital on time and within budget?

It is clear that the budget overruns, procurement problems and delays which plagued the new Belfast City Hospital in the 1980s, remain evident today.

As a dad of three premature babies, my wife and I have witnessed the miraculous work of the staff in the Royal Maternity Hospital, the inspirational medical and maternity staff in RVH deserve better, mothers and babies deserve better and the public deserve better.

Tim Attwood, Belfast BT11

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor