Repair work at two Belfast healthcare buildings is putting further pressure on hospital projects, with the new maternity hospital still closed and a mental health inpatient centre facing a phased refurbishment.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust says the current estimate for repairs to the maternity building is in the region of £7 million. The final cost of the wider project is not yet known and will also be subject to inflation.
More than 2,200 valves at the maternity building need to be replaced. Chemical flushing used to address bacteria in the water system is understood to have damaged pipework, and work to replace the valves is under way.
A separate report estimates the repair bill at £7.8 million, with an option for contractors to work around the clock bringing the figure close to £10 million. Those are estimates for different approaches, not a confirmed final bill.
Opening timetable depends on repairs
The new hospital is on the Royal Victoria Hospital site and is intended to replace the existing Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital. The trust took possession of the building on 29 March 2024, but it has not opened to patients.
The trust says its plan is for one part of the building to be occupied by March 2027, with the neonatal unit handed over by November 2027. Both dates depend on the repair programme succeeding; they are not guarantees that the whole hospital will open on those dates.
In evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Health Committee in April, trust leaders described plans for a new domestic water system in the neonatal unit and localised work elsewhere in the building. They said the extent of work in other areas might need to be reviewed if the trust was not assured that the proposed measures would deliver a safe and robust system.
The trust also told the committee that a management investigation was being commissioned into arrangements surrounding the handover. Its chief executive said the completion certificate was signed by the consultant design team, with possession then returning to the trust under the contract.
Questions over responsibility
Who will ultimately meet the maintenance repair costs remains unresolved. The trust says it and its legal representatives are engaging with independent experts on matters of liability. Northern Ireland’s Department of Health says it is reviewing the factors behind the delays and cost increases with the trust.
The trust told the Assembly committee in April that Pseudomonas had been identified before handover. Graham Construction, speaking for the Graham-BAM Healthcare Partnership, says water samples tested before handover were confirmed free of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and that the building was handed over in accordance with contractual obligations. The contractor says the partnership has not managed, operated or maintained the hospital since handover.
Those accounts do not establish responsibility for the later problems. The department says that, should specific liability be established, the relevant parties will be held accountable.
Mental health centre repairs
At the Acute Mental Health Inpatient Centre on the Belfast City Hospital site, the trust has been planning repairs while arranging alternative accommodation. The centre opened in 2019 with 80 en-suite bedrooms, including six psychiatric intensive care beds.
In April, the trust told the Health Committee that its programme included preparing Mahee ward at Knockbracken for patients moving from the City Hospital centre, followed by phased refurbishment of the inpatient centre’s wards. It estimated the cost of the works at approximately £6 million, while cautioning that the high-level figure could change as work progressed.
A £3.4 million figure has also been reported for preparing wards at Knockbracken. It is not clear whether the earlier estimate included the cost of preparing the temporary wards.
The April programme envisaged ward refurbishment continuing until February 2029. The trust said suitable accommodation was needed so that patients and staff could move from a specialist environment to a setting where care could continue safely.
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