Gas pipework issue at maternity hospital will cost £50k to resolve, Health Minister confirms

A medical gas pipework issue at Belfast’s new maternity hospital will cost approximately £50,000 to fix, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has said.

In a written statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr Nesbitt said he had been assured the problem would be sorted “as swiftly as possible” and would not further delay the project.

When he revealed the issue to MLAs last week, Mr Nesbitt described it as “totally shocking”.

The hospital, at the Royal Victoria site, is already almost 10 years behind schedule after numerous delays, but it was hoped it would finally open next year.

However, after the Belfast Trust took possession of the new building in March, testing of its water systems showed high levels of the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PsA), leading the trust to say the project was facing a significant new delay.

During a debate in the Assembly, Mr Nesbitt raised that another problem had been identified, this time with the medical gas pipework.

Providing an update on Wednesday, he said he knew MLAs shared his concerns about the new hospital.

He added: “I am advised that the medical gas pipe issue was raised by Belfast Trust in November 2023 as part of the contractual handover process for the building.

“It was detailed in the handover documentation as a ‘caveat’, which is in essence a defect which was known at the point of handover.

“In recent days I have again met the trust and it has assured me the issue with the medical gas pipework will be remedied as swiftly as possible.

“I have been advised the cost to resolve the issue will be approximately £50,000.”

Mr Nesbitt added: “Although the defect had been identified for some time, the Belfast Trust and departmental officials had only recently received a report into the options for correcting the problem.

“I have been informed that the work going on in parallel to test the water systems regrettably, but unavoidably, contributed to the delay in the production of this report.

“The trust has advised that they will work to ensure that the issue is fixed as quickly as possible and that it will not add any further to the delays which I know members are rightly concerned about.

“While my frustrations remain, the primary focus must be on satisfactorily resolving the water supply issues and securing the opening of the new maternity hospital as expeditiously as possible.”

The new hospital is years overdue and well over budget.

A Northern Ireland Audit Office report earlier this year said the unit was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

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