Robbie Butler, Northern Ireland’s health minister, visited Altnagelvin hospital and reiterated that a replacement emergency department is a priority project for the Western Health and Social Care Trust but no funding is currently available for the work.
The proposed new emergency department is estimated to cost approximately £73m and ranks among the trust’s top capital priorities. Altnagelvin’s existing emergency department is the oldest operating around-the-clock facility in Northern Ireland and was originally designed to handle approximately 40,000 patients annually. The facility currently manages roughly double that volume, leading to extended waiting times that Butler characterized as unacceptably long.
Earlier in the year, the Western Health and Social Care Trust submitted revised proposals for the emergency department project to the Department of Health. Butler’s predecessor Mike Nesbitt had previously stated that progress would depend on securing both capital funding and ongoing operational costs. Butler indicated that if funding becomes available, the case for the project has been sufficiently demonstrated.
Butler also addressed broader budget concerns, stating that the Secretary of State had not provided adequate financial support. The executive has not finalized a budget for the current year, citing inadequacies in the UK’s devolution funding formula. Additional funding of approximately £1.5bn is scheduled to be released in three installments, with £525m available this year. This funding situation has prompted disagreement between Butler and the Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant, with Butler arguing that Northern Ireland is not receiving funding at the agreed level of need.
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