Plans for £20m hospital children’s unit shelved | UK News

Plans for a new state of-the-art children’s unit at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry have been shelved pending the outcome of a review of Department of Health spending on capital projects.

Planning permission for the estimated £20m project was granted in March 2024.

The Western Trust had said it intended to start building last year, subject to departmental approval and allocation, but no construction work has happened.

A planning report previously compiled in support of the application described the current children’s unit as in “serious need of a major enhancement and modernisation”.

In a statement to Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme, a spokesperson for the Western Health Trust said: “Following the announcement of the outcome of the UK-wide 2025 spending review in June, (Stormont’s) Department of Finance commissioned a budget exercise that will determine the capital budgets for all departments up to 2030.

“Work is underway to develop the multi-year budget which the finance minister intends to bring to the [Stormont] Executive later in the autumn for consideration and agreement.”

The Trust said the ability to commit funding for any new capital projects, including the plan to replace the paediatric bed accommodation at Altnagelvin Hospital, would “depend on the Department of Health capital allocation from the budget process”.

Plans for the new children’s unit had been at an advanced stage.

The proposed paediatric department would be relocated within the refurbished ground and first floors of the existing treatment wing within Altnagelvin Hospital.

The ground floor would accommodate the outpatients’ department with 12 consultant/exam rooms, day case facilities and an acute paediatric assessment unit.

It would also have staff facilities and ancillary accommodation, including treatment, utility rooms, a sensory room and a dedicated adolescent area.

The first floor would accommodate the inpatients’ department with 25 single bedrooms with dedicated ensuites and an additional three-bedroom ward.

A new courtyard had also been proposed as part of the plans as an outside space and the design had input from the Altnagelvin parents’ group who support parents of children with lifelong medical conditions.

A tender process to engage a contractor had been ongoing.

The architecture firm appointed to the project, TODD Architects, stress the importance of developing a calming environment for the children who use the new unit and their parents.

“We are extremely conscious of the stressful and often traumatic experiences that hospital visits can generate, particularly for children and their parents,” they said.

“The environment in which children are greeted, diagnosed and treated is critical and should be as stress-free and feel as non-clinical as possible to generate an air of calmness.”

The Department of Health declined to comment further when contacted by News NI.